Bear Activist Killed by Bear

[smokymtnsteve]

Dion ..I just run into a bear jut south if wayah bald,,,,was moving along pretty fast hoping to get to the tower on wayah before some rain moved in(by the way I made IT)...ran up ona bear ...was right on top of it before I saw it ot it saw me...scared the sh8t outof the bear and it took off running ..I tried to catch up to it ..but they move fast....

black bears are not predators..esp. not human preadtors....they are actaully very shy animals

[dionalaniz]

I think the reason they're shy is because along the AT they've learned that we, humans, can kick the living bejeesus out of them because we've got these big loud bang sticks that hurt real bad and make their buddies fall over and die.

However, bears out in the remote wilderness of Alaska do not know this lesson and if one insists on purposely putting oneself into a vulnerable situation with such bears eventually one of them will figure out that, even though you're not on their usual menu, you are indeed easy prey.

It's sheer arrogance that makes a human think that bears want to be our friends or in any way shape or form care about us at all. Treadwell would walk up to wild bears and talk to them - "Oh Quincy. Remember last summer when you were hungry and could have eaten me? But you didn't? You're such a good bear."

Bears do not give a damn about us, they are not our friends, and it is grotesque arrogance to think otherwise. Bears are beautiful dangerous wild animals that will, under the right conditions, prey upon us. To forget that is to show disrespect to bears and all wild animals.

Save the bears. Leave them the ****** alone!

[smokymtnsteve]

black bears are not predators at all...they do not hunt...they are mainly savengers.....veggietarins...grubs worms..berries....thier biggest food is acorns and nuts in the fall...not people or even animals.... black bears are naturally shy creatures... and besides they sleep at lot inthe winter...

[ganj]

regardless if they are predators or not, black bears do attack people every year. These attacks could likely be avoided, however bears are unpredictable and dangerous.

[dionalaniz]

A healthy amount of fear of bears is a good thing. People like Treadwell who make films of himself "petting" wild bears and anthropomorphising them in various ways (talking to them, etc.), and guided tours that get people up close, and unprotected, to wild bears, is utter disrespect to nature.

Bears, and nature in general, *WILL* kick your ass. That's neither bad nor good. That's just the way it is. To try to turn nature, or bears, or tigers, into some cute cuddly "shy" playthings that are at our entertainment disposal is the utmost hubris of humans.

That doesn't mean I want to kill bears or go show them who's boss or carry a gun on my next hike. But it does mean I need to treat these beautiful creatures with the proper respect and understand that out in the woods I am a potential target.

Treadwell showed the utmost arrogance by trying to project onto wild bears human emotions, feelings, and behaviour patterns. He tried to have a "relationship" with these bears. This is arrogant because it assumes that the bears want to have such a relationship with us, which they don't. Bears just want to do bear stuff and hang out with other bears. They don't give a crap about us and if we try to push the "let's have a loving relationship" thing too far, as Treadwell did, they'll make us pay for this arrogance.

I think that people who try to cast similiar human qualities onto bears such as shyness and kindness are, to a similiar degree, engaging in the same arrogance as Treadwell. In human land we value kindness and being good to one another and not hurting our fellow living beings. And we look at a beutiful creature like a black bear and we want to also call it good, and thus we begin to attribute these same human values of goodness on bears - bears are shy and kind and wouldn't hurt their fellow living beings.

But such thinking is not cool or kind to bears. Actually, it's very insulting to bears to think that they give a damn about what we have deemed "good" in our society.

If a bear is hungry enough to overlook the fact that you are not on his normal menu and he guages that he can kill and eat you with no injury to himself he will do so. That's neither bad nor good. That's nature. To try and project one's onw value system onto bear behavior, and nature in general, is just plain rude.

[smokymtnsteve]

NO FEAR..... black bears are naturally shy creatures...they don;t eat fresh meat.....well cept for those three bears in the smokies that ate that lady back in mayof 99 but there was something fishy going on there..but bears are nothing to be scared of...

now wild hogs...now there something to be careful of...and they don't sleep alot in the winter like bears.

[icemanat95]

Yeah Blue Jay, Pigs will eat ANYTHING, and it doesn't need to be dead. Domesticated pigs are safe enough so long as you aren't stupid enough to starve them, but wild pigs are a whole different issue. Wild pigs will attack humans without too much hesitation. In the South, wild pigs are a SERIOUS problem. Ranchers, landowners and others hunters are encouraged to kill them in as large a number as they can manage, boars, sows and piglets. The normal rules for ethical hunting are largely suspended since a wounded animal is likely to be attacked and killed by his or her fellows and will not procreate successfully.

Brown Bears are predators.

That is a factual statement. On a case-by-case basis, predators will prey upon anything that they feel is vulnerable to them, whether, under other conditions, they might themselves be preyed upon by that animal or not.

Wolves will not normally prey upon bears, but it happens when they come across a vulnerable bear and their numbers are great enough. SIngle wolves have been known to take on Grizzlies when conditions are right.

Humans do kill Grizzlies and lions, and tigers and leopards and mountain lions, crocodiles, etc. They use firearms that give them an advantage in range to do so, often taking their prey by surprise. But one thing that is taken for granted in hunting dangerous game, is that if you let the quarry know you are there, you are in serious trouble if you miss.

Brown bears, polar bears, mountain lions, sharks, Orcas and wolves are predators by nature. They find sustenance by attacking and killing other animals. If a human being appears to be prey to a large predator such as these, that human is in serious danger, no matter how many bears, mountain lions, wolves, etc. that person has taken during hunting season.

[Blue Jay]

It is absolutely amazing the lengths people will go to justify killing things for fun. "Hunting dangerous prey", give me a break. Just admit it, you like killing things. It's OK, it's legal. Just don't BS about how scary the woods are because of lions and tigers and pigs, oh my.

[smokymtnsteve]

the killing of pigs is not just for fun...pigs are exotics not belonging to the natural landscape..and doing enviormental damage to native flower species...hence thier population needs to be controlled....not that we have so many pig attacks on humans....

we have more pig attacks on humans in urban areas..where there is no legal pig killing allowed.

[Blue Jay]

Bees kill many more hikers than bears, plus they are very hard to hit with a Glock, or even a high powered hunting rifle. A very nasty predator, lets be scared of them. Many people are allergic to peanuts. There could be evil peanuts lurking along the trail. Let's be scared of them. Rabid bunny rabbits are everywhere.

[Lone Wolf]

People have killed more people on the AT than bees, bears, snakes and the oh so scary giardia, combined.

[smokymtnsteve]

Originally posted by Blue Jay
Bees kill many more hikers than bears, plus they are very hard to hit with a Glock, or even a high powered hunting rifle.

depends on how good of shot you are

[Saluki Dave]

Following excerpt from The Canadian Widlife Service's "Hinterland Who's Who" page at:

http://www.cws-scf.ec.gc.ca/hww-fap/...cies=53&lang=e


"Black bears are omnivorous and will eat almost anything available. Most of their food is vegetation, especially in the late summer and autumn when berries and nuts are available. Favourite fruits include blueberries, buffalo berries, strawberries, elderberries, saskatoons, black cherries, and apples. Acorns, hazelnuts, and beechnuts are other preferred foods. Insects such as ants and grasshoppers rate high, and black bears will overturn logs, old stumps, and stones while foraging.

Fish, small mammals, and occasionally birds are also on the black bear's menu. In the spring some bears may prey upon newborn moose calves, deer fawns, caribou calves, or elk calves. Carrion of any sort is highly prized and its attractiveness to a bear increases with its degree of decomposition. Of course a tree containing honey is always a treat. Bears drink frequently and are usually found in the vicinity of water. "

Dem canucks, dey no dere bears, eh?