Not in my experience. It’s more likely trophy hunting for the most part. Also, there is a very large black market for bear gallbladders in the Asian markets.
I agree that if he was ambling around on all fours he would be indistinguishable from any other bear. The local scuttlebutt is that the guy targeted him specifically and had bragged that he killed the “famous” bear. I don’t know if any of that is true.
Those of you who disapprove of a bear hunt have obviously never lost a pet to one.
No, I haven’t, but it does happen.
We put our cats up at night because it is our responsibility to keep them safe to a reasonable extent while letting them be cats.
IMO, bow hunters are the closest to evening the playing field with the animal hunted are great; until you go to a spear in a solo hunt. Those guys are doing it the best way. IMO.
Bear hunting of non endangered animals is fine. But if one goes out to deliberately kill one such as ‘Pedals’ and it was not done with a obvious need for it’s own good but with the idea to kill for bragging rights and the bear is handicapped in some way makes the field even more uneven, is just an asshat IMO.
I can’t say that it was a favor for Pedals but in the video I saw, Pedals was not even close to that kind of need yet.
I have a very large dog that we rescued who was hurt bad in one leg as a very young puppy. He does not know that he is not supposed to hurt, not able to run like other dogs etc.
I work extra hard to give him a good and fun life knowing full well that he will probably need help to pass earlier than normal. I am not going to just put him down because he might have extra pain compared to other dogs. What he feels and thinks is normal and can ignore and what he knows he can & can not do is not to be compared to other dogs but to him as much as can be known.
I have always put my own pets down, they are my responsibility and I do not keep them alive while in the condition & pain that means the end is near. No scary ride to the vet, just sitting with Dad having a nice time , then gone in an instant.
I live with constant deep bone pain and I am not looking for some do gooder to come put me down just because I hurt most of the time.
Should we put returning soldiers down if they need a leg replaced and are in pain a lot? Or are suffering PTSD?
Yeah, IMO, Pedals is worth more to this world than many humans I have come across…
YMMV.
With a name like “Pedals”, I assumed he got around on a unicycle. 
In Colorado we had Samson.
Here was the penalty for the poacher.
The loss of his license was a nice touch.
Out along the scenic Seward Highway in Alaska, it’s common to see Dall sheep and other wildlife. One favorite for photographers and tourists was a Dall ram called Old One Eye. This was a mature ram with a full curl set of horns. Then one day in 2003, some asshole with a rifle shot him through the hindquarters from the side of the road and then just drove off after the old guy fell off the cliff. Nobody was ever arrested.
Not really relevant since Pedals was hunted legally, not poached.
Poor Pedals…once you become an internet star you have to step up your game or you’ll fall faster than a drop bear.
In good human hunter news…saw where a guy found 14 pound lobster…he released it.
We aren’t internet star friendly here. We also locked up Kai the Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker.
Then why was he bragging that he had been specifically gunning for Pedals for three years?
And it’s not like a bear walking upright on his back legs like Yogi, is missing his entire right paw and also has an injured left paw stands out or anything :dubious:
430 less.
Down with Common Core!
Black bears spend a good bit of time upright on their hind legs. Having raised black bear cubs, I know this is not unusual and something they frequently do.
Even if true there’s no difference between Pedals and the other bears. There is perhaps a difference between that hunter and the others. I don’t like killing animals for the sake of it, it’s quite cowardly to do so with guns or even a bow, especially a bear that because of injuries makes an easy target. But none of those bears deserved to die, Pedals just gets the attention.
I guess he just wasn’t…smarter than the average bear.
- Dons sunglasses.
YEAAAHHHHHH!
I figured it was some jackhole who wanted to be ‘famous’. Would’ve been nice if it had been a guy who said, "I saw that poor, rail-skinny, injured animal who scrounged garbage and probably handouts just to maintain that starvation weight, and I said, “There’s an animal who’s suffering, and needs to be put to rest.” Nah. Asshole.
That bear WAS skinny as all get out, though. It’s easy to like an animal that walks like us, and to care about an animal who’s been injured, but “Pedals” looked pretty sad from the footage I saw. I hope it was a clean kill. In the hands of a competent user, a crossbow can be very effective.