Bear grabs & kills baby

[The Mad Monk]

By 1900, Black bears had been driven from most of the UnitedStates; those that now live here are the results of relocation programs (using Canadian stock, I believe).

[Alexander's Horse]

This thread would have been more interesting if the title had been "Baby grabs & kills bear".

[Sikander]

Bear and mountain lion populations are certainly on the rise in many parts of the U.S. They were almost wiped out entirely, and have repopulated an immense area where they hadn't been seen in decades. Mad Monk is correct in saying that these areas have been under human control for a long time, and it is the wildlife which is encroaching. Of course such niceties have little effect on human or animal alike.

Black bear attacks are very rare, in the whole of North America over the last century there has been an average of less than one fatality a year. So this story is quite a shock to many, especially since the Catskills have had so very few bear in the 20th century.

There are quite a few black bears in my state Colorado. We are worried that the current drought will bring more of them into towns and neighborhoods to feed. We are pretty aggressive with bears from experience. If a bear is caught in town he is tranquilized and relocated to a wilderness area as far from human settlement as can be economically arranged. He is also tagged for identification. If that bear is caught again in a human area he is killed. This happended to a bear that was scavenging in the park next to my apartment a decade ago. After months of citizen complaints he was relocated, but managed to migrate to an area where there were a few people and broke into someone's cabin. The wildlife officers shot "Old #9" (as he was called) on the spot.

Some friends of mine live in what is now a ghost town, but was once a thriving mining town over a hundred years ago. It is pretty remote, not far from the continental divide and an enormous wilderness area. They had a bear in the area that was breaking into houses and cabins, doing a lot of damage. I lent them a shotgun and an automatic rifle when that bear began to drop by their place on occasion. It was pretty funny to see my (110 lb) friend Darcy in her nightgown telling the bear off at about 3:00 AM with my 12 gauge tucked under her arm. Between Darcy and her malemute the bear decided to take off. He came back quite a few times, but my friends chased him away each time until everyone was gone one night. The bear broke into the house, knocked over the refrigerator and helped himself to what was inside, quite a mess.

The more dangerous animal by far which has also seen a huge population explosion is the mountain lion, aka the wildcat, the puma, the cougar etc. These very rarely seen animals are a lot more likely to attack a human than a black bear, who usually are forced into a conflict with humans while trying to feed on other things. Mountain lions don't naturally eat humans either, but they sometimes will have a go at someone, especially a young child who is left even slightly unattended. In the 14 years I have lived in Colorado there have been 3 people killed by mountain lions here, two 3 year old kids who were hiking with their families, and a 19 year old runner who unfortunately must have been quite fascinating to the mountain lion who pounced on him. Authorities managed to track two of the lions down and kill them, the lion that killed the runner was a mother who had two kittens which were also dispatched.

[Zoid]

Originally posted by The Vagabond

Originally posted by DinoDoc
Would you want to eat a human?

No, thanks.

I hear it tastes like chicken...

[The Mad Monk]

Finally, someone who understands!

Kamrat, I understood that we taste like pork.

[monolith94]

"I would of put that bear out of its misery with more than one shot. "
And what supposed misery is this bear in? It ate a meal. That's all that it knows and cares about. If a human killed a baby that would be different, because a human UNDERSTANDS the ramifactions of its actions. A bear just eats, sleeps, and procreates.

[The Mad Monk]

Which, of course, is why its a good idea to remove them.

[monolith94]

Removing you would be easier though. Bears are harder to find…

[Dis]

see the bears did come from Canada. I knew they were responsible for this in some way.

[The Mad Monk]

Bears.are.easy.to.find...they.are.large,.leave.cle ar.tracks,.and.tend.to.make.their.own.trails.

I,.on.the.other.hand,.am.just.one.among.a.hundred. thousand.others.with.my.name.

...and.yes,.I.just.lost.my.spacebar.

Dammit.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
Stupidity is supposed to kill you, not other people. It doesn't qualify for a Darwin Award.

Stupidity, and other forms of natural selection, don't necessarily kill. They reduce the survivability of your germline.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Dr Strangelove
It has not! When I was a kid parents generally felt safe letting their kids roam at will. ( I'm obviously not talking about infants now. ) When I was 4 my parents began letting me wander around the neighborhood. By the time I was 6 I would walk a mile to school on my own. Playing with friends did not require an advance reservation.

That was an historical blip, Dr. S. I too remember being left alone, and given some of the things I got myself into, it's a wonder I survived until adulthood. Fronteer families didn't let their kids run around wild until they were older.

[General Ludd]

Does killing solve everything?

Originally posted by The Mad Monk
This isn't a new community, it's bears that are new. They are invading our territory...

By 1900, Black bears had been driven from most of the UnitedStates

Ah, I see... you killed them all off a hundred years ago so it's not their territory anymore. And now that they are returning and 'invading' 'your' territory, you feel justified in killing them all again.

I find this particularily odd coming from you - I mean, wouldn't the same apply to other situations? Wouldn't the palestenians be justified in attacking their isreal invaders? And, for that matter, wouldn't all war and terrorism be justified since massacring entire populations is apparently a perfectly acceptable and reasonable way to get things done?

[Sprayber]

Black bears are not typically dangerous unless you confront cubs or they are starving. They need lots of space for each indivdiual. The bears main diet consists of fruits and berries which may mean that the population is too large for the area if this one attacked. The bears have been reintroduced into Arkansas with no problems since the early 30s. Here there is a limited hunting season meant to keep the population in check. All in all the reintroduction of black bears in Arkansas has been a success with no problems with the bear or humans. Does New York have an hunting season for bears? If not maybe they should consider one.

Generally people here have no problems with the bears. It's the ****ing wolfs and coyotes that they hate. One stupid thing that the Game and Fish Commission is now involved in is reintroducing alligators to southern Arkansas. That has a potential to be a bigger problem then the bears. Sometimes it's just better to leave a situation alone.

[chequita guevara]

What's wrong with gators?