What do you think of this?

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pownal55

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Many of you are hunters, fisherman, etc like me. A friend called me last night to let me know a small bear showed up in his back yard, ate from his birdfeeder then climbed a tree and took a nap. He lives in a residential neighborhood.
Eight local police officers show up in his back yard, one knocks the bear out of the tree with a 12 ga slug and has to shoot it two more times to kill it. They inform him he is not to film anything, nothing on facebook, and ask him for a bed sheet to wrap the carcass in. When he refuses they ask to drive their truck around his house to the back yard to pick up the bear, again he says no. Rumor has it (unconfirmed) they killed the mother bear the same way two weeks earlier and were looking for this one since.
I have nothing against the police, but I think it could have been handled better by the state F&W service.
 
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Please allow me to call BS on this "friend of a friend" story.

Too many...actually, way too many..suspicious elements. :(

I will, however, supply a case of beer if the story is wholly true, as stated. :)

Be safe.
 
This friend is a co-worker of mine for the last three years and not known as a bs'er. This story is backed up word for word by his wife, brother, and doctor that lives across the street. As for the rumor about the mother bear killed earlier, that information comes from a member of the same police department.
 
pownal55 said:
Many of you are hunters, fisherman, etc like me. A friend called me last night to let me know a small bear showed up in his back yard, ate from his birdfeeder then climbed a tree and took a nap. He lives in a residential neighborhood.
Eight local police officers show up in his back yard, one knocks the bear out of the tree with a 12 ga slug and has to shoot it two more times to kill it. They inform him he is not to film anything, nothing on facebook, and ask him for a bed sheet to wrap the carcass in. When he refuses they ask to drive their truck around his house to the back yard to pick up the bear, again he says no. Rumor has it (unconfirmed) they killed the mother bear the same way two weeks earlier and were looking for this one since.
I have nothing against the police, but I think it could have been handled better by the state F&W service.
Click to expand...

Sounds to me like a clear case of why we need to continue the fight for the right to arm bears.
 
At least they followed Robert Ruark's advice to Use Enough Gun, not some underpowered pistol cartridge...

It's pretty much a lose-lose proposition for bears that wander into urban areas, and the "authorities", whomever they may be.

Urban cops have no particular training or less-than-lethal tools to deal with a bear, even a juvenile bear. Wildlife agencies typically have very sparse assets such as tranquilizer guns, and personnel trained and OK'd to use the "controlled substances" involved, and seldom can provide a rapid response to these sorts of calls. Even when they do, there's not always a happy ending ---

One summer, years ago, a juvenile (+/- two year old) black bear somehow meandered way out of its natural habitat, into suburban Mesa, AZ, and into someone's backyard. Cops were called, cops called Game & Fish, reporters monitoring the police chatter picked up on this, TV crews and choppers converged, Game & Fish tranqued the cub, loaded it into a pickup, and transported it to a suitable release site, reporters in tow. Bear didn't make it, went Tango Uniform while tape was rolling, became the little lost darling on the five o'clock news. (Cue violins, behind "outraged" editorializing and arched eyebrows...) The department's PR guy told me that he never took so much flack from any other incident as from that unfortunate escapade --- said his phone rang off the hook for several days, with little old ladies chewing him out in not very little-old-lady-like language, and etc. Explanations that the bear was already stressed by drought-caused malnutrition, excessive heat (it was in triple digit temps that this occurred...), etc., fell on deaf ears. He said one woman, who he credited with a very vivid imagination, scolded the department for not distributing food to the hapless bears, so as to keep them out of jeapordy by entering urban environments --- she proposed establishing a sort of Maginot Line of airdropped frozen chickens between traditional bear habitat and urban areas... To save the bears, of course...
 
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In Colorado he would have been darted and relocated if the bear continues to be a problem then they are put down. With the black bears 99% of the time if you leave them alone they will leave you alone.
 
I had to deal with a small bear that wandered into my town last year. It started with a citizen calling in a bear sighting by the high school at 11:30 PM. A couple of patrols checked it out but didn't locate it. At about 2:00 AM we received another call that a bear was trying to kill a man's dogs about a mile from the first sighting. We responded to find the bear about 25 feet up in a large oak. I called out our animal control. While waiting we watched the bear and he watched us watching him. I won't go into all the details here since the whole episode had me frustrated with animal control, the fire department and the state wildlife officer. It became a bit of a three ring circus with a foot pursuit of a groggy bear over fences and through yards. In the end we captured the uninjured bear and he was hauled off to a management area. Throughout the incident, which spanned three hours, all I could think of was; (1) If he gets away and kills Mrs. Smith's pet Poodle I'm going to catch grief for weeks by those who weren't there but believe they could have done it better and (2) If we end up killing it, I'm going to catch grief for weeks by those who weren't there but believe they could have done it better.
 
Personally I think killing the animal is a last resort, as in it endangering your life. It's complete **** to just show up kill it. They're just being lazy. It should be tranquilized and taken back into the wild. :mad:
 
glenncal1 said:
In Colorado he would have been darted and relocated if the bear continues to be a problem then they are put down. With the black bears 99% of the time if you leave them alone they will leave you alone.
Click to expand...

It is a fact, a fed bear is a DEAD bear. Everyone should put blame for killing the 'poor' cute fuzzy bear where blame belongs, squarely on the head of the neighborhood idiot who started feeding them (sounds like mother & cub) & give simpithy to the officer who had the distastful duty of removing the public nusiance someone else created!

The area where I live has a thriving bear population. It is common for LEO's to have to remove problem bears & almost to a case, is caused by a bunny hugger who thinks they are doing the animal a favor by providing it with a treat or two. Once they relate contact with man to being fed, they are a public hazard & relocation does not work. It only moves the problem to someone elses backyard.

Most states have laws against feeding ANY wild animal as it really does not help them, & more often than not, leads to their death. The owner of any bird feeder is technically a law breaker if it is placed where a bear can get to it.

Rant over, now flog me :)
 
If true, it seems to me the PD over reacted with the "do SOMETHING" syndrome. Sometimes, no action or delayed action is the best course. I am surprised that the news media wasn't called about a hail of gunfire in someones back yard......and there would need to be reports that are public record. There really is no hiding the discharge of a weapon in the line of duty.
 
Even with relocation,they will travel a long way to get back to easy meals.Some of the towns here spend a lot of money,year after year trying to educate people,but the problem seems to get worse.

Just last week,I was kayak fishing a little lake at 9500 ft.Went to the truck to dig out some warmer clothes.Turned around and a fox was sitting,watching me and begging from 10 ft away.Don't feed the wildlife.
 
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Funny, this thread just happened to pop up. Exactly, one year ago, a black bear wandered into Lynnwood, WA and was found near an elementary school. The PD took a lot of flack for killing it. One comment called them cowards as he watched the news while working out on a treadmill, in a gym; and probably eating a powerbar and drinking bottled water.

BTW, city of Lynnwood is in the middle of suburbia; 25 miles to the nearest wilderness.

Local News | Bear shot, killed in Lynnwood neighborhood | Seattle Times Newspaper
 
The key here is likely that it was stated to be a "young" bear. If in fact it's mother was killed recently, it was not a matter of relocation as it may have still been dependent on the mother. If another option were capture and be relegated to some tourist trap zoo, then the kinder action was carried out. Of course, it may have been a known "serial bear" and had a cache of several dead fishermen nearby....
 
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