Don't Arm Bears

[Morgeruat]

actually bear meat tends to be very tough, and it's like pork, if not thoroughly cooked it can give you trichomaniasis(sp?) although I did see a recipe for corned bear (like corned beef but with bear meat instead) that looked really good.

[Blind_Prophet]

Originally posted by The Hierophant: Fending the animal off was self defense. Hunting it down later and killing it (for nothing more than being curious about intruders in its territory) is plain old savagery. Humans are so tough and badass when they have their guns arn't they. I mean, they could have even tranquilized it and transported it elsewhere. But no, that'd be too much effort. Just kill it. Bastards.

Well we could just let it come back and mabey kill a kid this time, hmmm let me break out my scale and weigh this out.

[Tobbin]

They put down the bear because it had a taste for blood. It's felt that it's safer (to humans) to put it down, rather than risk the chance it will acquire a taste to eat people. They do that with most larger animals / reptiles.

[The Hierophant]

Hahaha. So when these people intrude into a bear's territory (probably wanting to 'get in touch with nature' or some such idiocy), it wanders into their camp at night, and looks through their stuff. The kid wakes up, panics like an idiot, antagonises the bear further by hitting it in the face, then commits the cardinal sin of running away. Why in the blue f**k wern't these kids instructed on how to rationally deal with a bear encounter?? They were 'emotionally troubled youths'? Yeah, 'mentally troubled youths' too. Why was this bear punished for the transgressions of a handful of ignorant, cowardly and weak humans? This makes me sick.

Taste for blood?? ... what a load of horses**t. A bear is a predator, of course it has a taste for blood!

I mean, what the hell do people expect from the wilderness? The wilderness is a WILD place! It's the WILDerness!! It's not supposed to be safe and snug and soft and cuddly like civilisation. If you venture out there, you respect the forces at work in the wilderness' ecosystem! Too many people think of it as some sort of nice vacation spot that they can tromp all over, soak in a few nice views, then go back to their joe-jobs in the concrete hives they call home.

She had a taste for blood? Well so too do the 'officials' that needlessly killed her it seems. But the demands of the rich city-dwelling vacationers rule all... Well, next time they want to 'get away from it all' and 'get in touch with nature' we should strip them naked and leave them alone and gunless out in that Alaskan wilderness, and let nature take its course... if they survive, maybe they will abandone their urban self-importance and garner a new respect for harshness of the wildlands... and if they don't, well, we can always just 'put them down', because they'll probably have a taste for blood by then....

[ 04-30-2004, 08:10 AM: Message edited by: The Hierophant ]

[LennonCook]

Hierophant, I agree with every word.

[Timber Loftis]

Nature ain't all bunnies and birdies.

I see they killed the bear for being, well, a bear.

[Bungleau]

Originally posted by The Hierophant: Well, next time they want to 'get away from it all' and 'get in touch with nature' we should strip them naked and leave them alone and gunless out in that Alaskan wilderness, and let nature take its course...

I think I hear the storyline for Survivor 8: Aleutian Islands...

[Blind_Prophet]

Originally posted by The Hierophant: Why in the blue f**k wern't these kids instructed on how to rationally deal with a bear encounter?? They were 'emotionally troubled youths'? Yeah, 'mentally troubled youths' too. Why was this bear punished for the transgressions of a handful of ignorant, cowardly and weak humans? This makes me sick.

Ok i'm sure its so easy to handle that situation to wake up and find a bear in your tent i'm sure you would be calm as ever and handle it by the book. Why blame the kid, did he personally ask for the bear to be hunted down and killed. Its not the kids policy. But in the end mabey someone got a nice new rug.

[Kakero]

Originally posted by The Hierophant: Hahaha. So when these people intrude into a bear's territory (probably wanting to 'get in touch with nature' or some such idiocy), it wanders into their camp at night, and looks through their stuff. The kid wakes up, panics like an idiot, antagonises the bear further by hitting it in the face, then commits the cardinal sin of running away. Why in the blue f**k wern't these kids instructed on how to rationally deal with a bear encounter?? They were 'emotionally troubled youths'? Yeah, 'mentally troubled youths' too. Why was this bear punished for the transgressions of a handful of ignorant, cowardly and weak humans? This makes me sick.

Ever heard of the word panic?

[Nerull]

I agree with The Hierophant. It always annoys the heck out of me the way people act like they are above nature, and know what is best in handling it. The bear did what nature designed it to do. As someone who has done camping/cabin living, the only reason the bear was in the tent was because the idiot had food out. And trust me, in bear country, they tell you never to do that. Over and over and over again. So the kid knew better. Yet every year, people keep thinking that they are above nature, and can do whatever they want to when they are outdoors. They tell people not to start fires during dry seasons, and every year you see huge forest fires here in the U.S. started by someone making a fire in the dry season (usually just because they wanted to get that "authentic camping feel" or just wanted to roast marshmellows). I've sat on a pier shark-fishing, throwing chum in the water, and surfers are just insistent on catching waves right at that spot, just because they want to surf right at that spot. It just really annoys me how high and mighty members of the human race holds themselves over nature, yet at the same time can't break free of it no matter how hard they try. Every time they think they conquer nature in some way, up comes something new just to mess with their program. It would be entertaining if I didn't find it so tragic.

There are two sad things about that bear story. One was that the bear was killed for simply doing what it does naturally. The second was that the kid got away. Hate to say it, but it would not have disappointed me if he was removed from the gene pool. Not the nicest thought, but the kid messed up and the bear paid the price. Not a fair trade, if you ask me.