As part of the 7th Annual Be Bear Smart Week, Bear Smart Durango hosts an evening slideshow presentation titled “The Tangled Fates of Bears and Humans: the roles bears and people play in sharing the same world’ by retired Alaska Department of Fish and Game bear biologist John Hechtel.
• Thurs. Sept. 3 at 7 PM
• Smiley Theater
Doors open at 6:15 PM with free Ska beer courtesy of Ska Brewing Company and Wildcat Canyon Liquors, and live music by Cheryl & Tim.
Admission is $7 for adults and $5 for kids and students, with admission to benefit Bear Smart Durango.
This event was made possible with the generous support of The Durango Herald, Bank of the San Juans, The Smiley Building, Cheryl & Tim, Ska Brewing Company and Wildcat Canyon Liquors.
For more information about this event, contact Bryan Peterson at bp@frontier.net or 749-4262.
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About John Hechtel: John retired from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game after a 28 year career there. He has worked in Alaska and Yukon Territory on the research and management of grizzly and black bears for nearly 30 years. His main interests involve bear behavior, bear safety, bear attacks, bear viewing, reducing bear/human conflicts and bear conservation.
John lectures on bears and conducts bear safety and bear management training courses for the public and industry, as well as for state and federal agencies. He teaches classes in non-lethal bear management techniques for hazing and aversive conditioning bears as well.
He served 6 years on the Council of the International Association for Bear Research and Management (IBA), the professional association of biologists working on the conservation of the world's 8 bear species and is now a member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Bear Specialist group’s Human-Bear Conflict Expert Team. He is also a founding member of the non-profit Safety in Bear Country Society.
