Remember Kennesaw, Ga., the town that passed an ordinance in 1982 requring its citizens to own and maintain handguns?

An official in Wyoming has a similar idea — not to require handguns, but to require backcountry hikers, anglers and hunters to carry bear spray.

Teton County Attorney Steve Weichman announced the proposal last week during a Yellowstone Grizzly Coordinating Committee meeting. If approved, it would require all recreationists overnighting in grizzly country to have bear spray on hand.

According to an Associated Press report, not everyone is sold on the idea. Bob Wharff, executive director of Wyoming Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife,  worries that hunters might be forced to forgo a sure-fire bear repellent — a firearm — in order to use pepper spray.

Does this remind anyone else of the old joke about how to tell grizzly poop from other animals’ poop? It has backpackers’ “bear bells” in it, and it smells like pepper…

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at 1:09 pm and is filed under News of the Weird, Wildlife. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.