Dangerous Fallacy- Mothballs as a Bear Deterrent

by Dave Landreth

Mothballs as a 'bear deterrent - they don't work! Have you ever heard the old tale about how cowboys would protect themselves from rattlesnakes by looping a horsehair rope around their sleeping area on the ground at night in the belief that snakes wouldn't crawl across the prickly rope? It may have made them feel a bit more secure, but to the snakes, it was a non-issue. Simply put, it didn't work. There's a lot of similar beliefs circulating regarding bears and safety around them. Some are amusing, or would be if they didn't present a danger to anybody that believes them, or the danger that they present to the bears themselves when victimized by a mis-informed public.

One misconception that I keep hearing over and over is the old wive's tale about how putting mothballs around your camp or in with your food will somehow deter bears from coming around or trying to get your food. The sage advice usually starts out the same way, "Now, Ol' Uncle Nedwick wuz a mountain man, and now he really knew how to handle them damned ol' bears. He would just scatter some moth balls around the camp and he never saw a bear in all his years in the mountains."

Well, Ol' Uncle Nedwick was probably lucky. Like the horsehair rope fable, mothballs do nothing to make your camp safer from bears. In addition to being worthless as a deterrent, they're highly carcinogenic. Do you really want that crap near your food, or in your pack where they'll fumigate your equipment? They're highly toxic to a variety of birds and small mammals, and the poison is long lasting.

 

* In the past, people have recommended mothballs and air horns to stop bear attacks. Of course Yellowstone grizzlies have been seen eating mothballs, according to writer and historian Paul Schullery. And the idea that a loud noise will scare an animal capable of making some pretty loud noises on its own doesn't seem likely.

* Mothballs, Herrero Page 142, Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance: "Of the many chemical compounds such as mothballs, ammonia, and mace that have been tested as bear repellents, those containing capsaicin, an active ingredient of cayenne peppers, have shown the most promise.

 

Old wives tales: John Rosa, a 23-year resident of Alaska, reports a method that is probably not familiar to many of us. It requires at least one other participant. To quote: "First, when going fishing, camping, mining or even gardening, before you start, give your partner, wife, sweetheart or mother a banana. This produces a scent through the pores of their skin which attracts mosquitoes to them, leaving you relatively free."

Another of Mr. Rosa's recommendations, which may (or may not be) quite as tongue-in-cheek, is that a used Bull Durham bag filled with mothballs and hung outside the tent not only keeps mosquitoes away from the campsite, but also wards off black bears."

An Interesting Solution to the Mosquito Problem Article #551 (This is pretty typical of the 'quality' of scientific justification for the use of moth balls as a bear repellent. gt)

Camping with dangerous poisons and carcinogens: Naphthalene or paradichlorobenzene (in mothballs): naphthalene is a suspected human carcinogen that may damage eyes, blood, liver, kidneys, skin, and the central nervous system; paradichlorobenzene can harm the central nervous system, liver, and kidneys; *hydrochloric acid or sodium acid sulfate in toilet bowl cleaner; either can burn the skin or cause vomiting diarrhea and stomach burns if swallowed; also can cause blindness if inadvertently splashed in the eyes.

 

National Toxicology Program Finds Naphthalene Causes Cancer in Rodents

The U.S. National Toxicology Program (NTP) announced the results of its two-year study on naphthalene. The rat study found clear evidence that naphthalene causes cancer, a finding that scientists and regulators must wrestle with to determine if, as commonly used, it presents a risk to humans as well.

Naphthalene, the chemical that gives mothballs that strong, familiar scent, showed clear evidence of causing cancer in male and female laboratory rats in a two-year study by the National Toxicology Program headquartered at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, N.C. The rats in the study were exposed by inhalation, just as most people are, in doses comparable to some human consumer and workplace exposures.

The NTP said naphthalene was nominated for the study after some German workers exposed to the chemical developed a number of cancers, including laryngeal, gastric, nasal and colon cancer. A chemical can be nominated when there is evidence suggesting it causes cancer, or sometimes merely because large numbers of people are exposed to it.

The most widely known use of naphthalene is in mothballs and bathroom deodorizers, but it also has a number of chemical manufacturing uses, and is used in veterinary medicine to control lice and as a disinfectant for lesions and incisions. It enters the human food chain when used on livestock that then ingest or inhale it. Naphthalene manufacture and use goes back at least to the early part of the 20th Century.

An abstract of the study is available on request or at the web site listed below. Toxicology and Carcinogenesis Studies of Naphthalene (CAS No. 91-20-3) in F344/N Rats (Inhalation Studies) (And you wanna put this stuff in with your food?!!!)

Think about it: bears have been seen eating moth balls. A hungry bear views anything that has an odor as a potential food source. In Osborne Russell's book, Grizzly Country, he tells of seeing a Griz lying on its back, happily slurping up battery acid from an abandoned truck battery. Skunk musk has been found to be a powerful bear attractant under controlled circumstances. Nothing smells so bad that a hungry Griz will be put off. Relying on putting mothballs in with your food, thinking that it will deter bears, is not only foolhardy in the extreme, it could cost the life of the bear if its drawn to investigate the smell. Not only that, the sensitivity of a bear's nose is amazing. They will easily separate the smell of mothballs from that of food. The other obvious flaw in the mothball proposal is that it is often suggested that they be put in with your food, using double zip locks. To satisfy your curiousity, try this one at home. See what it does to your Ramen noodles flavor. Wouldn't it be a lot simpler to just keep a clean camp and follow time-proven bear country etiquette?

Garbage and poor bear country etiquette kills bears. It could kill you if you fall for one of the many old wive's tales about bears.