Bear stories in the news

On july 19, a small black bear wandered through our residential Maine neighborhood park and was immediately shot in a neighbor's yard by a solitary game warden. Our local paper vigorously defended the warden's actions, with a "Staff Editorial", as well as with positive opinion fell-length columns about the Game Warden's personal character and actions by the paper's hunting columnist. The gist of the arguments was that 1)better a dead bear than a dead child 2) non-lethal methods (the only method ever mentioned was tranquilizers) do not work, and 3) anyone whoquestioned the Warden's actions was a soft-headed arm-chair quarterback who had "watched too much Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom".
Is what concerned me more than anything else: the repression of any questioning of the Officials' actions, and the squelching of any alternative points of view by the city's paper and news outlets. That, and the fact that the officials positions were complete outliers. No one involved ever gave the first evidence of any awareness of "Non-lethal Management" of huiman bear conflicts. No alternative policies or procedures were EVER MENTIONED.

Certainly, some bears attack or stalk humans and need to be put down. Some nuisance bears fail non-lethal methods of conditioning also. But dogs are clearly more of a danger to people than bears, and no one suggests any radical policy changes for protecting people and children from dangerous dogs: a survey by the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta ("CDC") concluded that dogs bite nearly 2% of the U.S. population -- more than 4.7 million people annually. (Sacks JJ, Kresnow M, Houston B. Dog bites: how big a problem? Injury Prev 1996;2:52-4.)
Almost 800,000 bites per year -- one out of every 6 -- are serious enough to require medical attention. (Weiss HB, Friedman D, Coben JH. Incidence of dog bite injuries treated in emergency departments. JAMA 1998;279:51-53.)
Dog bites send nearly 368,000 victims to hospital emergency departments per year (1,008 per day). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Nonfatal Dog Bite--Related Injuries Treated in Hospital Emergency Departments — United States, 2001, MMWR 2003;52:605-610. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report is published by the CDC.

In 2007, there were 32 fatal dog maulings in the USA. (The complete list, showing names, dates and locations, is found at Canine Homicides, a section of Dangerous and Vicious Dogs, at this website.) Yet there are only a handful of fatal black bear attacks PER DECADE.
(and as for the argument that "even a 150 lb bear is dangerous", DUH! I've got news for you: you wouldn't last two minutes with a 60 lb pit-bull either, let alone a rottie or a presa...)

There are risks involved with living everywhere, but we all fit into this small planet together.

(you can read about non-lethal management of human bear conflicts at http://bearsmart.com/ including cool videos of wardens and police peacefully managing stray bears)

Category:

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[bowmaddnneess]

come on guys that thing would rip your dog or kid in half if it had the chance.

[pokeraholic5]

wahhhhhhhhhhhh kill all bears fuck em useless man eating creatures

[leighmcm]

It depends on how much money you want to spend to solve the problem. A buck for a bullet or a thousand bucks to trap it and move it, trap it two or three times and have to shoot anway.

[stanakanats]

Ah!!! Don't worry! I'm part Micmac and believe me that bear was put to good use....As food and clothing and shoes to keep Micmacs warm......You know the people you stole the land from!!!

[mrjustin5]

Terrible that they kill any animal like that. Look at that TINY black bear. Probably wandered away from its mother, got lost and got hungry.

Even in my local town, I've read the newspaper that a cop shot the cows that were on someones property. Just went up and shot it in the head with a pistol.

Most anyone who carries a gun as part of their job just cant wait to use and feel like a big person. I am pro 2nd amendment but these assholes must stop killing dogs, bears and PEOPLE!

[IIMayhewII]

I'm sorry. The music is just... just.. xDD