Bear sightings on Hurlburt, no shortage of courage Published June 17, 2013 By Airman 1st Class Benjamin D. Kim 1st Special Operation Wing Public Affairs HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. -- Black bear sightings are a regular occurrence here at Hurlburt Field, Fla. Kristal Walsh, 1st Special Operations Civil Engineer Squadron environmental specialist, gave Airmen and their families easy guidelines to keep bears away and simple tactics for emergency situations by telling her story. In November 2012, Walsh roamed the residential streets of Hurlburt Field responding to a bear sighting. "I was checking out the area; went out there to take a look around and a mama bear and her two cubs were coming right for me in the walk way -- just leisurely walking along," she said. Walsh customarily responds to alert calls by arriving to the scene to assist in driving bears away to their natural habitat using strategies she learned from her professional training from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "I had a big old stick," Walsh said. "I ran at the bear yelling and put the stick out. She turned while the cubs ran off, not as quickly as I thought they might have, but she got the cubs into the woods." The routine procedure to drive away bears took a turn for the worse. Instead of walking off into the woods, the bear took a defensive posture. "She turned around and she charged me," Walsh said. "Get [the bears] aggravated and they're going to bluff charge with cubs there; they want to protect their kids. I'm standing there and the bear bluff charged me and I'm going, 'Oh no, what do I do now?' For a second you just completely forget all your training and my instinct was to turn and run. I was backing up already going, 'How far is she going to come?'" According to Walsh, bears will make intimidating gestures to protect themselves, and people must take notice and react accordingly. "They will clack their jaws, the mamas will hiss, they make all these sounds like they're going to eat you alive," she said. "Those are just warnings that they are not comfortable, that you're too close, so we need to respect that and back away." It was a perilous situation which could make even the most seasoned veteran panic, but Walsh's professional training kicked in. "My heart was pounding and I just really had to physically plant my feet and say, 'I'm not going anywhere,'" she said. "The FFWCC biologist teaches us to not make eye contact. So you want to look down, you want to back up slowly, you want to make yourself big, you want to keep talking, and I did the same thing -- the bear turned and went back in the woods." Walsh told her story not just as a warning for anyone who comes in contact with a bear, but to remind base residents how to prevent bear encounters in the first place. Airmen and families can follow simple rules such as locking bear-proof trash cans and not leave trash out in the open. If there is a bear sighting, leave it to the professionals, Walsh said. Call security forces at (850) 884-7777. They have several Airmen with specialized training to deal with bears.