“There is considerable overlap between the intelligence of the smartest bears and the dumbest tourists.” is of course a great quip. But in defense of us dumb human tourists, it should also be noted that bears have a much higher personal incentive to get into the garbage, and they sometimes can simplify parts of the puzzle by brute force.
"Leave no trace" is very important (and point taken -- some people don't take it seriously enough and it reflects quite poorly on them), but bears are facing hunger and possibly even starvation if they don't find some food source.
Also the bears are usually not holding a baby, and a bottle of rum, and a deckchair and their backpack in one hand, trying to drop the rubbish in with one hand. So you have to at least try to design this for one handed human opening, where the bear has two paws to bring to bear (so to speak)
Former forest ranger (great summer internship!), so plenty of experience with dumb tourists, but your comment shows a severe lack of empathy for parents of small children.
Consider, for example, that while you could put the thing down, it might:
I was mostly suggesting putting the deckchair and bag down rather than the child. But if you did put the child down and it ate some trash, started crying, and ran off in to the woods to get eaten by a bear, I think that's just Darwinism at work. You can't fight evolution.
I would also add that if your child managed to eat trash, started crying and ran off into the woods within the 20s that it might take to put things into a rubbish bin, then you shouldn't be too worried because it seems to have the survival skills to live in the forest and outrun the meanest predators.
Parenting is exactly like that; the puzzle is especially analogous when you're outnumbered. The 1-year-old cannot walk but will eat anything he can get his hands on, the 3 year old can fit between the bars on the bridge but does not have the finger strength needed to release the latch on the carseat, the 5 year old can mantle up a 36" ledge and runs at 8 mph but can assist with caring for the 1-year-old for a maximum of 48.6 seconds before one or the other loses focus...
The good news is that after a few years, these safety puzzles become those mathematics problems where the minivan can carry 7 and drives at an average of 40 mph, Suzy can bike to soccer practice at 12mph but only before sunset, Mike's mom is driving south on the freeway at 70 mph and if you drive north on the back roads at 40 mph, the question is which exit should you choose to meet her at so that the crock pot does not overcook dinner before you turn around?
As a current parent, I can not envision a situation where it is not possible to put down a child in order to open a rubbish bin with two hands.
I mean there are lots of other situations that occur regularly which require you to put a child you're carrying somewhere else. I mean how do you think parents of more than one child manage?
Yes, humans might spend an hour and give up, and complain about the time the spent getting the container to work, while a wild animal will spend every waking moment to bypass the container's defense mechanisms.
