Survive The Predators

There is a correlation between survival in the wilderness and survival in civilization.

If you were camping in grizzly bear country, it wouldn’t be wise to encourage the bears to come into your camp looking for their next meal.

How would that happen?

The rule in camp is that you don’t leave food and garbage lying around in the open, because that will attract predators such as bears.

So, to keep from doing that, all food and garbage needs to be stored in bear-proof containers, or strung up on bear wires high above the ground where the bears can’t get to it. But in any case, you keep the containers or bear wires a good distance away from your camp, so even if the bears find those things at least they won’t be in your camp.

So that’s how it goes in the wilderness. But what’s the correlation between this and survival in the city?

In the city, there are predators. And just as surely as a grizzly bear goes on the prowl looking for its next meal, so do the predators in the city. 

You read about them every day in the headlines. Homes are invaded. Women and children are abducted. People are taken hostage or murdered.

In fact, your chances of becoming involved in that kind of predatory incident in the city are far higher than your chances of being attacked by a grizzly bear. 

Survival in the city is a much bigger problem than survival in the wilderness.So, how do you keep from encouraging the city predators from coming into your camp — your home, your life?

One strategy is to stop advertising. Stop displaying publicly any details about yourself or your family

One of the ways people publicly advertise details about their family is with bumper stickers. You’ve seen them — the cute little window stickers that show stick figures of a dad, mom, children and even the family pet. That immediately tells a predator that there are children who could be abducted and held for ransom — or worse.

Or the bumper sticker proudly proclaiming that you have an honor student that attends a particular school. Or that you are members of a particular country club or fitness center.

If you have parking passes, don’t stick them permanently to the vehicle, but attach them to a bit of card stock that you can place on your dashboard when needed, and then hidden in the glove compartment when not needed.

Another huge problem is social media. People who post their travel plans, vacation photos and comments, or even just idle chatter about the day’s events are, in essence, ringing the dinner bell for the grizzly bear. Don’t use Twitter and Facebook and other such communication technologies to advertise to the world what your plans are.

Keep your personal life private. Use your vehicle for transportation, not as a billboard to advertise details about your life and your family.

In the wilderness, you have to understand the nature of the grizzly and then take the proper steps to stay alive. In civilization, you have to do the same thing with city predators.