Fear of the Unknown by Michael Elia

Author:Michael Elia
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowanvale Books Ltd

CHAPTER 7

As soon as she had arrived in Alberta, Canada, Marion was introduced to five native warriors who were experts in the art of meditation and horse whispering. Meditation allowed them to pacify aggressive animals. The five warriors on the reservation near Banff National Park were named Nacoma, Ten Bears, Talking Crow, Talking Arrow and Yellow Knife. Nacoma was also the chief of this reservation. It seemed that the Native American reservations scattered across the United States and Canada housed the mere remnants of what was formerly a vast population of natives roaming the entire continent before the Europeans arrived.

Nacoma addressed Marion as he raised his hand to greet her. ‘So you are the young woman who has come here to learn from us…’ Nacoma stated. ‘You wish to overcome your fear of Canada’s deadliest creatures by learning native meditation and horse whispering. Well, welcome to our reservation, young European.’

Marion chuckled. ‘My name is Marion,’ she said, ‘and I need to ask you a question. How many dangerous animals exist in North America?’

‘Oh, there are many,’ Nacoma replied. ‘In Florida, there are alligators, for example. They are the most dangerous of all America’s man-killers. In Canada and the rest of America, there are bears, pumas, bison and moose. They are the top killers of humans. We will be dealing with them first, and then deal with the smaller creatures.’

‘Tell me about bears,’ Marion said eagerly. ‘There are brown bears in Europe, but they do not usually attack humans. In Asia, there are Himalayan black bears, sloth bears and sun bears, and they are extremely dangerous. But the Shaolin priests in Nepal told me that these bears are more defensive than aggressive. Is this the same with the North American bears?’

‘It is the same,’ Nacoma told her. ‘Apart from polar bears in the Arctic regions of Alaska and Canada, North America has three species of bear: the Kodiak bear, the grizzly bear and the black bear. The Kodiak bear and the grizzly bear are larger sub-species of the brown bear which lives in Europe and Asia. The Kodiak bear of Alaska is the largest land carnivore, weighing in at nearly 2,000 pounds, but the grizzly is far more ferocious and dangerous. It is very rare that Kodiak bears attack humans, but grizzlies and black bears are unpredictable and must always be treated with caution.’

‘When do bears attack people?’ Marion asked nervously.

‘When people threaten or surprise them, or go near their food or cubs,’ Nacoma replied. ‘Or, in the case of black bears, when people feed them and then the food supply stops. This makes the black bears aggressive. Now, although people fear grizzlies, they generally do not fear black bears, who appear to be more cuddly and cumbersome. But both grizzlies and black bears are enormously strong and can move much faster than humans. Grizzlies have been known to move at a speed of thirty miles per hour! Black bears are almost as fast as grizzlies and very agile when climbing trees.

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