Wilderness Survival Guide 65 In Canada, contrary to popular belief, most animals will not harm humans unless they are provoked, feel they are threatened or are protecting their young. Despite this fact, it is advisable to avoid a wild animal, especially if it looks ferocious when it would usually show fear, or behaves abnormally friendly. Lack of fear for humans should be considered a bad sign. The animal may be old and suffering from starvation, or if it appears to be sickly or is frothing at the mouth, it may have rabies. Nearly all warm blooded animals can get rabies, but it is most often found in racoons, mice, chipmunks, foxes, skunks, bats and groundhogs. The best thing to do if you see a wild animal is to yell out or blow your whistle to scare it away. At the same time, you also may be heard by a searcher. Like all things in nature, there can be and are exceptions to this rule and that exception is the bear. Generally, bears will leave you alone if you leave them alone. ANIMAL THREATS Only after you have slowed your heat loss should you concern yourselves with heat again. While psychologically a fire can mean security, peace of mind and safety, all while keeping you warm, drying clothes, boiling water, or signaling for help, it can also burn you, your clothing, your shelter or the forest, so treat it with the respect it deserves. Check your local library for books on wilderness survival or the “Field Book for Canadian Scouting” to become familiar with the methods used to start and use different types of fires. As well as knowing how to build a fire, you need to know when to use one in a survival situation and when not to use one. Always take into consideration the conditions in the forest and the ground cover surrounding you. Never build a fire on dead leaves, pine needles, or peat moss, or leave it unattended when the forest is very dry. You could have a forest fire to deal with! Build your fire on sand, earth or gravel and don’t make it too large. Small fires require less fuel, are easier to control and their heat can be concentrated. In cold weather, small fires arranged in a circle around you are more effective than one large fire. A fire can also act as a weather indicator. When smoke rolls low off the fire, it means a lowpressure weather front is moving in, which usually indicates a storm. FIRE www.adventuresmart.ca
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM0NTk1OA==