'Bear whisperer' Steve Searles lures bears away from kitchens and campsites, with words instead of tranquilizer darts. And he thinks the lessons of the wild may translate to society.
Steve Searles is not really a cop, not really a civilian; he lives in limbo between those two worlds.
The bears were sweeter souls but even bigger presences, some topping 600 pounds. After a break-in, there’d be scat everywhere. His obsession and his long hours might also have cost him friendships and a long marriage to his wife, Debra, who recently packed up and left. So he didn’t rush the bear-hunting assignment, taking months to chart them and plot their domains. He named them according to their appearances: Big Red, Half Nose, One Ear.“When they would lie down to sleep, I would lie down to sleep,” recalls Searles, who once curled up under some giant pines only to discover he’d been sleeping on a village of angry ants.
“If they had thumbs, they’d be driving these cars away,” says Mammoth Lakes Police Lt. Eric Hugelman, who oversees Searles. Once Searles realized they were “the tie-dyed hippies” of the animal kingdom, his work seemed less daunting. But he did pick up on a significant pecking order that would shape his approach.
His obsessive nature didn’t hurt. By 1997, a year into his bear program, Searles was speaking to civic groups; he worked with restaurants to lock their trash bins; he charmed and scolded and pleaded. Ski towns can be tricky towns; blue-collar ethos mixed with white-collar excess. Never a go-along sort, Searles said the incident was political; the town reinstated him after supporters swarmed a meeting, saying the bear problem had gotten worse in his absence.In Mammoth, all this has led to a cultural shift. Thanks to Searles, bumper stickers now urge: “Don’t feed our bears,” hinting at a family dynamic. On the fairways, golfers have learned to play around the bears, going over and around, rather than panicking and calling 911.
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