Bear attack in yellowstone...double standard?

[Tikitoi]

The bear attacked three people within a very short time, all on the same day. If not put down, it would have killed more. It dragged these people from their tents. Normal wildlife does not do that. Just like a normal shark does not drag people from the beach. They already had a wildlife attack response team in place for just such an eventuality. Sounds like it didn't take much time for them to find the bear. To me, it sounds like money well spent.

Thanks for that explanation. But its just sad that they had to put the bear AND her cubs down.

 

[zachnsamsmommy]

Ah...then yes, I missed the point. Gotcha now.

Listen gang, I am more than willing to concede my thought process here is flawed, but it's just how I feel. Would the bear still have been put down if they had found a reasonable explanation for the attack (someone taunting it or the cubs, food left out etc?).

I don't know about in Yellowstone, but in Tennessee, a black bear yearling was just put down b/c a photographer followed it to get a good pic. And the bear bit his foot. So, yeah, even if the person is the stupid one, the bear usually still gets put down. In this case (TN), I felt sorry for the bear.

 

[minkydog]

However this bear was not provoked and obviously has a taste for human. That is not the type of animal we need around campsites.

Exactly. And from what I read those people who were camping out there were experienced camping in bear country. So they understood that you take special precautions to not draw a bear to your site. Hundreds of people camp in bear country every day and are NOT attacked by bears. This bear obviously was unafraid of humans and intentionally attacked when it knew the humans would be most defenseless.

Would the bear still have been put down if they had found a reasonable explanation for the attack (someone taunting it or the cubs, food left out etc?).

Maybe. The National Wildlife Service takes a dim view of bear attacks, whatever the reason.

But its just sad that they had to put the bear AND her cubs down.

It is sad, but from what I read this mother was showing the cubs *how* to attack the people. She was actively teaching them. Bears are at least as smart as wolves or dogs. They have a long memory,too. Bear cubs are not naturally prone to approaching humans, but they are certainly capable of inflicting serious damage if they so choose. It is believed that this was a calculated attack, not a food gathering party. That's why the wildlife official have treated this almost as a crime scene. They aren't after just any bear. They want to put a stop to THE bear who orchestrated the attack and showed her cubs how to do it for their future reference.

It's very unfortunate for the bears, but I'd be willing to bet that at some point this bear was acclimated to being around humans. SHe very well may have started out scouting for food stores--coolers left unattended, grills left out. One of the reasons the National Park rangers are almost manic about cleaning up after ourselves is so that bears don't have the opportunity to be successful gathering human food. A fed bear is a dead bear. And now this assumedly fed bear has attacked humans. It cannot be rehabilitated and neither can her cubs. Unfortunate, indeed.

ETA: I see the cubs are being sent to a zoo. I'm glad they're not being put down. At least *something* good can come out of this. A zoo isn't the ideal place for cubs to be raised, but it's better than dead.

 

[msjprincess]

Thanks for that explanation. But its just sad that they had to put the bear AND her cubs down.

The cubs weren't put down. They're being sent to a zoo.

 

[golfgal]

You are completely right! ...I'd be up in arms, totally freaked out, and clamoring for the bear's capture.

But this bear wasn't in my (or any) neighborhood. Humans were in it's neighborhood.

There is no "neighborhood" in Yellowstone Park. It is there for both humans and animals to share. If a human was being disrespectful or damaging the park the human would be tossed out or put in jail. Since you can't explain rules to a bear, the bear was put down.

I would suggest you read the book "Rainbow Six" by Tom Clancy-it is total fiction but it gives you and idea of the animals first mindset can do.

 

[NEVERENOUGHWDW]

So there was a bear attack on some campers in Yellowstone Nat'l Park. Terrible thing. One person killed and two others wounded. Here's the story: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE66R5VK20100728

So here's my questions. They launched an all out search for the bear.

WHY?? Can I assume tax payers foot the bill for the search?

When someone is attacked by a shark and maimed or killed, no "all out search" is ordered for the shark (ala Jaws). It's just an unfortunate event. So why is this bear being hunted down? Frankly, the humans were in the bear's backyard. It is a terrible tragedy but I cannot understand why the hunt for one animal but not others.

BTW, the bear WAS caught (a mother with her cubs) and put-down. A wild animal, doing what wild animals do...eating "weaker" animals who wander into their territory or who harass them, and it gets put down for it.

When surfers get attacked by sharks (like the little girl who lost an arm) they never blame the shark.

I think it is a 100% disgrace that that bear was killed.

These campers were in bear territory....this group decided to camp, that comes with dangers.
These people were in an area saturated with wildlife and a horrible accident happened. Don't you know there is danger when your camping?

Now you have 3 motherless cubs to be trapped in a zoo the rest of their lives.
If you ever heard the cry of cubs that just lost their mother you were be horrified.
Several years ago we were in Alaska and their we cubs being cared for after their mother was killed it is a cry that haunted me as well as the others on the trip.

 

[SaraJayne]

I think it is a 100% disgrace that that bear was killed.

These campers were in bear territory....this group decided to camp, that comes with dangers.
These people were in an area saturated with wildlife and a horrible accident happened. Don't you know there is danger when your camping?

Now you have 3 motherless cubs to be trapped in a zoo the rest of their lives.
If you ever heard the cry of cubs that just lost their mother you were be horrified.
Several years ago we were in Alaska and their we cubs being cared for after their mother was killed it is a cry that haunted me as well as the others on the trip.

So you think a bear (or pick the animal of your choice) that stalks and eats humans should just be left out "there" to go on its merry way??

Yeah, I don't think so.

The bear was NOT provoked and there was no food involved. The bear was actively stalking and hunting HUMANS. That is not normal behavior for bears.

 

[NEVERENOUGHWDW]

So you think a bear (or pick the animal of your choice) that stalks and eats humans should just be left out "there" to go on its merry way??

Yeah, I don't think so.

The bear was NOT provoked and there was no food involved. The bear was actively stalking and hunting HUMANS. That is not normal behavior for bears.

"There" was their territory.
Were you there on sight that you know all the information.
Bears w/ cubs do what they need to do what they need to do to feed their cubs.
We disagree. Period.

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

Thanks for that explanation. But its just sad that they had to put the bear AND her cubs down.

according to this article the cubs are being sent to ZooMontana in Billings

http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/article_217c700c-9c5e-11df-964e-001cc4c002e0.html

 

[SaraJayne]

"There" was their territory.
Were you there on sight that you know all the information.
Bears w/ cubs do what they need to do what they need to do to feed their cubs.
We disagree. Period.

Obviously, I was not there.

I am going by what witnessess that were there said and what the Rangers have said about the unprovoked attack.

Sorry ~ normal, healthy bears do not EAT humans. I don't know how to make that any clearer.

It's the middle of summer in Yellowstone, so it isn't like there is any type of food shortage (ie normal bear food).

 

[Sparx]

Bears do not attack people normally. Bears are very shy and tend to stay out of camper's way. If a bear is literallly dragging sleeping humans from a tent, there is something wrong with the bear. She could have been rabid or sick. Its a good thing that the authorities caught up with her and safely captured her cubs.

 

[disykat]

I think it is a 100% disgrace that that bear was killed.

These campers were in bear territory....this group decided to camp, that comes with dangers.
These people were in an area saturated with wildlife and a horrible accident happened. Don't you know there is danger when your camping?

Now you have 3 motherless cubs to be trapped in a zoo the rest of their lives.
If you ever heard the cry of cubs that just lost their mother you were be horrified.
Several years ago we were in Alaska and their we cubs being cared for after their mother was killed it is a cry that haunted me as well as the others on the trip.

The campers didn't kill the bear.

If, when you were in Alaska, a bear had killed your spouse and hurt several other people - would you have been able to stop the authorities from euthenizing the bear?

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

"There" was their territory.
Were you there on sight that you know all the information.
Bears w/ cubs do what they need to do what they need to do to feed their cubs.
We disagree. Period.

Normal bears with cubs will do just about anything to stay away from humans, they don't go around campsites picking them off.

Unless Yellowstone all of a sudden has a food shortage a bear would have no reason to go after humans for food. There is something mentally wrong with this bear and it does not need to be kept alive so it can continue to teach its cubs that humans make a tasty treat.

I personally don't want a park full of bears salivating over humans, which is what would happen if we allowed this behavior to continue.

 

[luvmythree]

According to Yellowstone's Bear Management Office from 1980 until 2002 more than 62 million people visited Yellowstone, spending roughly 17 million camping hours in the park. Over that time 32 were injured in bear encounters, resulting in a ratio of 1.4 injuries per year from bear attacks.

That means the chances of a human getting hurt by a bear at Yellowstone *assuming similar #s per year* are approximately 1 in 2 million.

By comparison, according to figures provided by the NWS the chances of being hit by lightning are 1 in 500,000.

Also according to the Parks Warden Captain Sam Sheppard, the rampage — in which campers in three different tents were mauled as they slept — is highly unusual.

"She basically targeted the three people and went after them," Sheppard said. "It wasn't like an archery hunter who gets between a sow and her cubs and she responds to protect them."

There was something not right with the bear. I feel bad for all involved including the bear and her cubs

 

[LilyWDW]

In the time of 2000-2009, there were less then 30 deaths due to bear attacks in North America. On average, there are less then 30 attacks per year total.

This instance resulted in 3 people being attacks, 1 killed and 2 injured. These people were not in the same tent, they had experience camping in bear country, and had taken all precautions (according to the rangers, who would have knowledge about these things). The same bear individually attacked 3 people. This is NOT normal bear behavior. This shows a change in how the bear responded to humans making it unsafe to keep the bear in that area. This bear had lost it's natural fear and instead thought humans were part of it's natural food chain.

Why couldn't it be relocated? Because we as humans continue to press further and further into bear territory. Interactions with bears will increase due to this, I am sure of it. We will need to figure out something because killing off these beautiful amazing animals should NOT be the aim.

I LIVE in bear territory. There have been multiple attacks over the years in the Great Smokey Mountains. But, I can understand why... after you see a bunch of people gather around some bear cubs to take pictures, not realizing they have gotten between mom and her babies... yea, you can come to understand why some of these attacks happen.

Oh and just a note... there ARE hunts when sharks attack. They are not normally the government doing anything, but they happen.

 

[liesel]

Concerning the comparision to shark attacks, I spent 6 months in Hawaii and if there is an attack or even a suspected attack, they DO attempt to track the shark. It is a bit more difficult than tracking a bear. There were two interesting cases while we were living there. One was where a person was murdered and the body was dumped in the ocean, trying to make it look like a shark attack. The other was a body that washed up on shore that had been fed on. They soon discovered that the man had jumped off a cliff into the ocean (they think it was a suicide). Once it had been determined that animals were not responsibile, they ceased looking for the sharks who scored a free meal.

 

[Magic Mom]

"There" was their territory.
Were you there on sight that you know all the information.
Bears w/ cubs do what they need to do what they need to do to feed their cubs.
We disagree. Period.

Normal healthy bears do not hunt humans.

 

[hedgehog2owl]

This is why people should never feed wildlife. It teaches the animals to come into campgrounds looking for food, where naturally the animals would avoid the humans.

And when humans don't provide food, the animals don't know how to hunt, so they go looking for food in campgrounds. Leading to being hit by cars.

Relocating an animal who doesn't know how to hunt for itself also does the animal no good.

Please do NOT feed wildlife.

I don't know what happened in Yellowstone, but when I heard about it, my very first thoughts were food in the tent (HUGE NO NO) or rabies. Not much else a bear would want from sleeping people.

There was NO food in any of the three tents. And it happened at 2 am (for those who are saying the man who died provoked them) and everyone was asleep in the tents. That why this is unusual.These attacks were unprovoked. here is a good article to read if you want info http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100730/ap_on_re_us/us_bear_mauling_death_46

The three cubs are headed to Zoo Montana.

 

[Jennasis]

Normal healthy bears do not hunt humans.

I've heard Polar bears do. I can't remember where I read it, but they actually have a "taste" for humans. Or so I've heard.

Concerning the comparision to shark attacks, I spent 6 months in Hawaii and if there is an attack or even a suspected attack, they DO attempt to track the shark. It is a bit more difficult than tracking a bear. There were two interesting cases while we were living there. One was where a person was murdered and the body was dumped in the ocean, trying to make it look like a shark attack. The other was a body that washed up on shore that had been fed on. They soon discovered that the man had jumped off a cliff into the ocean (they think it was a suicide). Once it had been determined that animals were not responsibile, they ceased looking for the sharks who scored a free meal.

YES! See...I've been educated. Thanks! Now it doesn't seem quite so unfair to the killer creatures stuck on land.

I would suggest you read the book "Rainbow Six" by Tom Clancy-it is total fiction but it gives you and idea of the animals first mindset can do.

Thanks for the recommendation, but I don't really care for Tom Clancy.

 

[merryweather20]

I don't understand any of your arguments. They most certainly do, track and kill nuissance aquatic life. The humans weren't in the bears back-yard, they were camping at a maintained camp-site. The bear came to them, they didn't go roust the bear from its den.