Bear spray originated from University of Montana research conducted in the 1980s

History of Bear Spray

Bear spray was born in response to helplessness and frustration over the regular, violent, and often fatal encounters between humans and bears.

Carrie Hunt, who directs the conservation nonprofit Wind River Bear Institute http://www.beardogs.org/ , studied various prototypes of bear spray as part of her master’s thesis at the University of Montana http://www.umt.edu/ in the 1980s.

Working closely with advisor Chuck Jonkel http://www.conservemontana.org/content/chuck-jonkel-great-bear-foundations-co-founder-and-president/cnmE38139ED8241E1C74 , Hunt and colleagues tested a number of different ingredients on captive grizzlies.

By Todd Wilkinson, National Geographic

Full Story: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/09/150925-grizzly-bears-attacks-science-animals-bear-spray/