Man is a part of nature, but he’s not a natural part of the bear’s habitat. It’s not a matter of interference, it’s a matter of intrusion and territorial behavior. It’s actually very unusual for bears to feed on humans. Grizzlies usually attack to neutralize a threat, which is why the best advice for those undergoing an attack is to lie perfectly still. These animals either perceived these humans as some sort of danger, or the bears were young and aggressive (normal for young bears).
This city has expanded into black bear and moose territory and those animals are commonly seen in many areas. People complain about moose eating their shrubs and bears eating their poodles, but it’s humans who are the intruders here. The moose are following ages-old behavior and foraging instincts, and the bears are opportunists.
We’re a part of nature, all right: the ignorant part, mostly. When you intrude into a habitat without understanding that habitat, or in complete disregard for the nature of the animals there, you are indeed interfering. IMHO.
you lay down with a bear, you are going to get fleas, or eaten.
nikita ovsyanikov lives with polar bears on wrangel island, he doesn’t sleep in the bears day beds, he doesn’t call them party animals, he doesn’t try to interact with them. he watches from a respectful distance; he doesn’t take a gun or any other weapon with him, he uses a stick. thus far it has worked rather well for him.
i think that is what separates the pros from the amateurs, the pros know to keep their distance and respect the wild. the amateur thinks he can just go up to any old bears den and move in.
He wasn’t interfering. He succesfully lived amongst them, touched them and enjoyed them for many summers. I say he lived a great life and I admire him for not sucking(as kalhoun suggests). No, he wasn’t a moron, he was someone that wanted more out of life than comming to straight dope and talking shit about someone getting killed by an animal.
Sure, maybe he made the bears mad, maybe not. The fact is he was killed and partially eaten by a bear. That shouldn’t warrant an asshole or two speaking badly about him because they themselves are two cowardly to live life and see adventure as nothing more than going without a water bottle whilst speed walking around some faggoty 3 mile lake trail(all the while fearing a dog attack because they are invading the dogs rightful personal space).
I applaud him for doing what he wanted and succesfully living amongst them for as long as he did.
But (leaving him aside) the price of this included the lives of two bears and his GF. That looks rather irresponsible. There are ways to enjoy and appreciate bears that don’t exact such a price.
Well, per Govindha at least he didn’t die a “faggoty” death, but went out in a screaming, shouting, squealing, bleeding, dis-emboweled blaze of non-limpwristed glory.
Out of curiosity what the hell would a “faggoty death” be anyway?
Astro, who said anything about a faggoty death? Get your stuff straight prabhu…I said faggoty 3 mile lake trail…
He didn’t kill either bear though. The park service and state police decided to kill the bears. If killing is what bears do, then they should have let the bears live simply because the damage was already done.
Furthermore, two people died, two bears died, it’s even, big deal, the world still turns and the lives lost I’m sure were lived to the fullest. I still admire the man.
I have to say that you are waaayyy off base on this. He was interfering, and the bears did what they do naturally. You speak of him as an adventurer. What adventurer puts both his own life, and the life of his girlfriend on the line for no good reason? If he wanted to study the bears, there are much safer ways to go about it. I happen to live in the northern half of British Columbia, and as such, I am very familiar with the outdoors and wildlife. More specifically, I know what to do and what is verboten when it comes to human animal interactions. What this gent did was stupid.
Bears are not fuzzy automatons, gleefully, mindlessly performing the same dance of stimulus/response over and over again. They are very unpredictable. A bear may do one thing one time, and then go ahead and react very differently the next time, even when all of the variables are the same. Getting close enough to touch the bears, is in my mind, bizarre. It would be like trying to shave a lion with a rusty razor. You are only asking for something bad to happen.
Also, despite his respect for the bears he was around, his actions resulted in the deaths of two of them. Ever heard the line “A fed bear is a dead bear”? Once bears lose their fear of humans, as they obviously did in this case, bad things can, and do happen.
Long story short, He was in a place he should never have been in, doing something he never should have done, and he paid the ultimate price. I have very little admiration for his actions.
Oh, and could you do me a favour, and explain what you meant by this little gem?
You could do me a favor and stop trying to school me on the behavior of bears. I read and also have the sense to watch the occasional discovery, animal planet , national geographic type shows. I also hike in mountainous areas in which bear frequent. Thank you anyway.
As far as that precious gem is concerned, well, don’t read too much into it. It’s rather self-explanatory if you are able to get over the faggoty part. I’m not a homophobe if that is waht you and astro are getting at…
Oh, and, somehow I do not believe he forced his girlfriend to go. I think he was an adventurer. My point is, he watched these bears grow over a period of 13 years, he was obvioulsy doing something right. It’s inevitable, living in a remote area with animals of that nature, he probably thought at some point he would die. I just firmly believe it’s what he wanted to do and interference or not, he did it and paid with his life.
I wonder if we were to bring urban scrawl up and how we as a people are interfering with all types of animals, and killing them because we need a new stripmall, if that would warrant calling ourselves morons and dumb asses? I mean afterall, only four lives were lost compared to what humans have done to many millions of animals in the name of money and personal gain rather than love of adventure and a specific species of animal. I realize that is a different topic, I just cannot see the stink over what this man did with is life.
And I applaud the bears for doing what they wanted and succesfully ending this fool’s intrusion amongst them for the last time.
Jeez…you play with fire, you’re going to get burnt. Period.
Cholo, you act as if he was out there with fireworks and a gun fucking with them. He lived with and studied these animals. He wasn’t trying to hurt them you fool…Sheesh…
Their hand was probably forced. Parks and rangers have been sued when problem bears were allowed to live and became repeat offenders. In view of this, it usually becomes policy that a bear reliably associated with a mauling or fatality must die. A guy who for 13 years spent time in parks with bears probably knew this (or at least should have).
I’m going to guess that the lives of the GF and the two bears were not yet quite fully lived.
I realize it’s a common practice to hunt and kill bears that kill humans. I almost certainly know he knew about that.
Why would you suppose his gf or the bears life was not yet fully lived? Why the assumption? I do not believe any of us really know about that now do we? The woman was in her 30’s i believe, surely she did some living during those years. I mean heck, look at who she was dating. I find it hard to believe she didn’t realize it may or may not be a dangerous situation. Hiking and camping amongst these creatures always, or just in the out of doors alwasy involves risk now doesn’t it?
Oh, I agree, it is very easy to understand, with or without the faggotry remark. So, why pray tell, did you feel it necessary to include it is your sentence? Exactly what was the purpose? Now, from where I sit, it seems to me that you meant for it to provide a negative connotation to what you said. I’m sure that you cannot be remarking on the gender preference of said trail, as I’m not entirely sure how that would work, what with paths of dirt having pretty much having bypassed the whole “sexual reproduction” thing.
So, it seems to me that you are using the word faggotry in the negative sense, that by where associating something with homosexuality, makes that thing as “bad” as being homosexual.
Noticed how I put bad in quotation marks? That’s because I feel your premise for the use of this word is flawed. Homosexuality is neither good nor bad. In essence, it just is. Of course, for myself, I have to admit a bias, being homosexual myself, and I think that homosexuality is a wonderful thing.
Now, how would you suggest that I just get over it?
Ok, you seem to need this explanation, so here goes. When I think of something faggoty, I tend to think of something that is un-cool, weak and lame. Any sexual or bigoted meaning in the term" faggoty" in the way I used it is something you added, not I.
Many people use the word"faggoty" and do not mean harm or hate towards ones sexual preference.
How you get over is up to you. I suggest, however, you go for a hike and get up close and personal with these fuzzy creatures we are discussing if you continue to dwell on something that was not mean to insult or disregard the sexual preference of another. If you do not like my suggestion, I have another for you, but I’m afraid you’ll not like that one either…