Alaskan Professor Battles Off Grizzly Bear with Insect Repellent and a Walking Stick

While the insect repellent Natrapel can’t go touting its anti-bear abilities just yet, it did come in handy for one hiker, her two nieces and her dog when they encountered a grizzly bear on a trail in Alaska. The spray was a decoy for the bear and a placebo for Alyson Jones-Robinson, an English Professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Jones-Robinson had camped on the Granite Tors Trail about 40 miles east of Fairbanks the day before with her two nieces, aged 13 and 9, who were visiting from Washington state. When Jones-Robinson, 43, came upon a young grizzly bear on the 15-mile trail in the Chena River State Recreation Area last Thursday, she was doing her best in panic mode to save her nieces and her husky, Rowyn.