For those who haven’t seen it, there’s a related GQ thread: Finding the right bear.
(And *Priceguy was making a Simpsons reference.
I must agree.
Russian Bears hunt YOU!
It’s a goddam bear, you idiot, not Osama bin Laden!
Usually, at least in the state of my birth, NM, bears are relocated from populated areas and only killed when they continue to return. The bear in this case acted extremely abnormally, it was not normal behaviour in the least for a black bear to react in this manner even in a wild area.
Osama Bear Laden?
WHA!! HAA!! HAA!!! HAA!!! HAA!!! HAA!!! HAA!!!
…oh my sides…
I already pay a Homer tax. Let the bears pay the bear tax.
Ok.
Ursa bin Laden ?? Wha??
Black bear attacks, unusual but far from unprecedented, have not been correlated with rabies according to this site.
I’ve never seen any data suggesting that there are such things as “rogue” black bears akin to man-eating tigers, for instance, that must be hunted down and killed lest they repeatedly satisfy their blood-lust with human flesh.
It depends. It’s not “normal” in the sense that it doesn’t happen every day, but being agressive toward a percieved threat is not bizarre.
Here is a page on black bear behavior:
(I was wrong about cubs causing agression, by the way. Grizzlies are the bears that do this, not black bears.)
Bear attacks are increasing as people encroach more and more into wild areas.
Lissa, I’m still of the opinion that you’re missing, or ignoring, the point that a bear that has become comfortable with humans in its territory is often going to eventually start viewing humans as a natural threat that they can combat.
From what I recall of the original story, the bear that attacked the woman and her children was in an area that a truly wild bear would have avoided, because of common human spoor. A well-established trail in a well-visited national park is something very different from going into the more remote areas of, say, Yosemite, and actively trying to encroach upon a more remote territory.
The Parks Rangers have a saying that I think you have to remember: “A fed bear is a dead bear.” As bears, and other large animals, become accustomed to human presences in their territory, they go from the normal response of most wild animals of avoiding human contact, to seeing humans as a food resource: First for garbage, then as competitors, or a food supply in themselves.
Given the history of this bear attack, I’m of the opinion that it’s quite reasonable to go for a lethal response to the suspected bear, and then confirming that it is the correct bear. Bears are territorial, and generally solitary animals - Occam’s Razor is going to be with anyone assuming that a bear in the same area as the original attack, is going to be correct bear. And, any other bear in that area is going to be getting too comfortable with humans for my peace of mind, anyways.
I’m with Unregistered Bull in this case - I don’t think it’s an unreasonable action by the authorities.
From the site I linked to previously:
Offensive, predatory attacks have almost always been in remote areas where the bears had little or no previous contact with people. Black bears that raid campgrounds or garbage cans are almost never involved. "
Jackmannii, thanks for the quote. I’d missed that. I’ll admit a lot of the bear sites I’d linked in my post were talking about brown and grizzly bears, not black bears.
I’m afraid that while I accept the link you’ve given, unconditionally, I still don’t see this as an over-reaction.
There aren’t really many really remote, unvisited-by-humans areas in that park to which a wild bear can retreat to get entirely away from people, so it’s not really a question of avoidance.
National parks are getting more and more visitors, and these incidents are going to happen as people spread out through the park. They are “parks”, but they’re not city parks, free of all danger. People need to understand that.
Exactly. Likely, that bear had found remains of a cookout at that site before, or had possibly been intentionally fed by park visitors. (I once saw a woman in that same park try to lure a bear down from a tree with a hotdog so she could get a better photo of it.)
I didn’t say I thought the authorities were unreasonable. I said it was sad. I think it’s sad that the little girl was killed and I think it’s sad that the bear had to be killed, too.
Sorry for misunderstanding your point. I agree with you completely. It is sad for all involved.
And in a related story, it’s been announced that a wildlife officer killed the mountain lion involved in this attack.
The public can breathe more easily yet again.
And they laughed at Jimmy Carter.
And they laughed at Jimmy Carter.
It was a rabbit. In fact, it was THE rabbit, at the end of its four long trans-Atlantic swim.
What was it about the late 70’s and killer rabbits?