Bear that killed doctor dead, say officials (Canada)

[JohnLocke]

Bear that killed MD dead, say officials
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Canadian Press
----
TORONTO--Ontario officials believe they have killed the black bear that fatally attacked one woman and injured her husband.
The Ministry of Natural Resources says it has killed a black bear matching the description of the one that killed Dr. Jacqueline Perry and wounded her husband Marc Jordan.
The 30-year-old couple was attacked at Missinaibi Provincial Park, north of Chapleau, Ont. earlier this week.
Ministry staff say they shot and killed the black bear near the area where the attack occurred, in a remote area of the park.
The bear had a wound to its neck like one that Jordan inflicted as he tried to fight the bear off with a Swiss Army knife.
The ministry has now called off the search but continues to gather evidence for its investigation.
The attack is the latest in what has been a busy season for bear attacks across Canada.
A Manitoba man fended off a black bear in early September, just one week after a black bear killed another man in the province.
There have also been four grizzly attacks in Alberta since June, including a fatal one on a female jogger near Canmore.
(...)
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Read the rest here.

[Maple]

1. Leave the bears alone

They're jes being bears.

[msmcghee]

2. Are you suggesting that these folks . .

. . harassed or bothered the bears in some way and invited the attack? I didn't see any evidence of that in what I read.

I've never been to Ontario but I have spent a lot of time around Canmore and have friends who have lived there for many years. The area is close to Calgary and is a very popular get-away/vacation area. It's right on the highway going west into Banff. There are several provincial campgrounds along the Bow River in that area.

Living in mountainous areas of the west puts you in contact with bears. You sound like a city person who knows what we country folk should do - as in we should stop petting the bears or something.

Loss of wildlife habitat is a serious problem. When a bear kills someone it is not always the human's fault - although it is never the bear's, of course. In this case a bear and a human lost their lives. I find that sad. Not an excuse for blaming the person who died without evidence that they provoked the attack.

[Maple]

3. Bears don't know they live in 'parks'

or why people keep jogging through their backyards.

It's up to people to watch out for them.

We have this happen every year.

No, it's never the bears fault. Bears are bears.

Hell, I know of people who smeared their kids with honey to get a cute picture of the bear licking them. We had one a few years ago where a father and daughter went into a cave to 'see if the bear was awake yet.'

People have been Disneyfied.

Leave the bears alone.

[msmcghee]

5. I agree with much of your post . .

. . however I still think you are inferring that the human was at fault for "not leaving the bears alone".

Bears have a very good ability to smell and hear what's around them. Much better than humans do. Before you blame someone who lost their life to a bear you should at least have some facts to back it up.

[Maple]

6. It's one story among many

and the bear always gets shot. No matter what the human was doing.

It's like a bullfight...even when the bull wins a fight it was set up in, it always gets killed in the end.

[EFerrari]

20. They are at fault. What happened is completely predictable.

I remember one year, I sat through a lecture on bear behavior with a woman in the same campground. In the middle of the night, she woke us all up screaming because a bear was in her tent -- mysteriously going after the unwrapped food she had there.

She had managed to sit through the whole lecture AND NOT HEAR A SINGLE WORD.

[pinniped]

15. Crazy Einsteiners! They must be related to the people in Australia...

who were standing on top of a dead whale while sharks were ripping chunks of flesh off of it.

[iverglas]

4. I think Maple meant ...

(lordy, me explaining Maple ... although there's a chance I be more useful, even though, or perhaps because, more wordy)

that the bear that attacked the people should be left alone, i.e. after the attack. It was just being a bear, and wasn't suddenly a dangerous killing machine on the loose and different from other bears and needing to be killed, that sort of thing.

It's an open question whether campgrounds and trails should be put in bears' habitat and people and bears just left to fend for themselves, I'd say. I'm not completely persuaded that bears that have attacked people should be killed, although I wouldn't say that a bear shouldn't be killed if it is in the act of attacking; every mammal for itself, as it were.

Anyhow, I don't think Maple was blaming anybody for the bear's attack, she was just saying that the bear should perhaps not have been executed for it, because it lacked the requisite mens rea. ;)

[msmcghee]

9. I would disagree with that one . .

Bears are not dumb animals. Once a bear has attacked and killed a human there's a good chance that they will learn from that and add that behaviour to their repertoire - especially if nothing bad happened to them in the process.

Until that happens most bears are not sure what to make of us. They may be a little afraid of the unknown. Usually they'll leave the area if they hear us coming, especially in the wild and not in a park area.

But if they are guarding a kill, a favorite berry patch, have cubs in tow, etc. they may decide to stay and challenge you. They are wild, potentially dangerous and can not be predicted.

The best approach is to wear bear bells when hiking, hike with a partner and carry bear spray.

I'd much rather accept the danger of hiking and camping where wild bears live. If we don't love the wild we won't protect it. But I am always saddened when someone's life is ended prematurely because they only wanted to experience that wild for themselves.

BTW I'm not picking an argument here. Just continuing the discussion from another viewpoint.

:toast:

[iverglas]

13. I yield to any expert

when it comes to bear behaviour. ;) Me, I stick to my orphaned raccoons and feral cats and rat-eared black squirrels -- Rat-Ear having been rather a celebrated case a few summers ago, being one of only a half-dozen local squirrels known to have caught the dreaded squirrel pox invading from across the border, as the workers at the now-defunded and defunct wildlife centre confirmed when I took him in after first suggesting on the phone that he just had mange and making me feel like I had Munschausen syndrome by squirrel ...

And I was just trying to explicate Maple's text; I really do claim no expertise! And if I were agreeing with Maple, I'd have to be prepared for the sky to fall, of course ...

But oh no ... I'd restrained myself in the first instance, but you make it impossible ...

The best approach is to wear bear bells when hiking, hike with a partner and carry bear spray.

A guy walks into this sporting goods store
in Alaska, immediately spies a rather
haggard-looking old salt of a store clerk
sitting by the cash register.

"Hear ya got a lotta' bears 'round here?"

"Yep," answers the clerk.

"Big bears?"

"Yep."

"Mean bears?"

"Yep."

"Black bears?"

"Yep."

"GRIZZLIES???!"

"Yep."

"Got any bear bells?"

"What's dat?"

"You know, them little dingle-bells ya put on yer backpack so bears know yer in the perimiter so's they can runs away ..."

"Yep. Over yonder ..."

"Great. I'll take one fer black bears, and one fer grizzlies. Say, how'd you know if yer in black bear country anyway?"

"Look fer scatt."

"Oh. Well, how how'd you know if there's GRIZZLIES????!"

"Look fer scatt."

"You just said that!"

"Yeah. But grizzly scatt's different."

"Well now, just what's IN grizzly scatt that's different?"

"Bear bells."

http://www.netfunny.com/rhf/jokes/89q3/bearbell.539.html

[msmcghee]

10. You said . .

"It's an open question whether campgrounds and trails should be put in bears' habitat . . "

You realize don't you that "bear habitat" includes from the treeline in the tundra south to the mountains of Mexico - including all of Canada and the US?

:toast:

[CHIMO]

8. Problem

Seems to be that we haven't taught the bears to read.

It is not nice but man keeps on making excuses to justify whatever he/she wishes to do.

Was killer Canmore handled properly?

As McCallum and Dr. Paquet prophesied those many years ago, the heedless development and poor planning that characterize Canmore inevitably breeds conflict. Environmentalists blame developers for destroying wildlife habitat and the critters that call(ed) it home. Developers claim they’re being prevented from earning a fair return on their investment, and the provincial government berates town council for being obstructionists. Recreationists attack environmentalists for putting the needs of animals ahead of those of people. And then people and bears start bumping into each other in what little space is left and eventually, inevitably, someone, a caring mother and a beautiful friend, dies. All because of poor planning and more than a tinge of greed.

http://www.actionworks.ca/albertagrizzlies/2005/06/was-killer-canmore-handled-properly.html

[bahrbearian]

7. I'm with you there,,, leave us Bears alone.

[ecoflame]

11. Black bears usually aren't aggressive

I'm surprised it was a black bear. We have them here, along with brown bears, as well as grizzlies but I've not heard of black bears attacking humans. They're usually skittish and run off. Grizzlies on the other hand - never fuck with them...or a cougar....or a pissed-off cat for that matter. Must be the claw thing.

Keith Scott, a bear expert with the Ministry of Natural Resources, said such attacks are "very rare. There's only been four fatalities in Ontario through black bears dating back to about 1978," he said. "This one in this particular case, it's early in the investigation, but it appears to be a predatory-type bear. These bears have learned to and often prey on humans."

[Maple]

12. Well it couldn't have

been predatory or 'learned to prey on humans' if there have only been 4 hits since 1978

They were in a remote section of a wilderness park. Bear territory.

Not to mention other creatures that are 'less than welcoming'

It was incumbent upon the humans to watch out for bears, not the other way around.

Bears don't plot assaults and murders. But they do defend territory and cubs. Picnics in the woods need to take that into account.

Anyone entering bear territory should be armed.

[oblivious]

16. "Anyone entering bear territory should be armed."

As #10 pointed out, bear territory covers a pretty big swath of North America. The killing in Manitoba last month was basically in an urban area, just outside Selkirk, 20 miles north of Winnipeg. There are just so many bears there now. This year they're particularly hungry because of a poor fruit crop, and one killed this man as he was picking fruit, perhaps seeing him as a competitor. They've been really going after the honey farms, and the farmers don't much like shooting them but risk seeing their livelihood destroyed if they don't.

[Maple]

22. We occasionally get

a displaced bear...since their habitat is disappearing, occasionally one shows up in an unexpected place. Not the bear's fault either, but we don't want them walking downtown streets.

However, a remote section of a wilderness park is definitely bear territory, and people should be watching for, and prepared for bears.

[Coventina]

14. This is my problem with "punishing" animals:

Okay, so they shot and killed a bear in the area, and it is reported that it had a wound consistant with what the offending bear allegedly had. Well and good.

But my problem is that the bear had to be shot and killed FIRST before they could confirm it was the "correct" bear. What if it had been the wrong bear?

This happens a lot in my area. People are attacked from time to time by mountain lions, so the result is that every mountain lion found in the area gets killed. Okay, so you may have eliminated the offending animal (in many cases maybe not) but every other animal matching the description also gets killed. This further upsets the balance of nature and further implants the idea in people's brains that "animals need to be punished" when it is the HUMANS who are actually in the wrong.

I remember one particular case that really got my goat. A family was out camping, and their 2 yr old was allowed to wander around the campsite, all alone (everyone else was in the tent) at 10PM AT NIGHT!
The child was attacked and killed by a mountain lion, and as a result, about 20 mountain lions were killed because of this "outrage".
I'm thinking, wasn't it negligent homicide on the parents' part?!?!?!

[Fluffdaddy]

17. They would not have Killed it........, if it was a White Bear

:hide:

[oblivious]

18. Ha ha. That's true, in the literal sense.

The polar bears that cause trouble in Churchill are drugged and released far away from the town, rarely killed.

[fortyfeetunder]

19. To paraphrase Carlos Mencia - this is not news!

I heard Mencia talk about a shark attack on his Comedy Central show, and what he said was funny but damn well puts it into perspective!!!

A bear attack in the woods is not news.

A forest is the bear's kitchen!

Now if the bear left the woods, went into to town and strolled over to the 7-11 and bit someone in the ass, now that's news!

[ozone_man]

21. Except that black bears are usually not agressive

It is not typical that this situation occurs, so I suspect that there was a reason such as cubs, a shortage of food, or even a bear who has become too familiar with people (habituated).

Grizzlies are a whole other matter and much greater precautions need to be taken food and human waste, don't walk off trail or at night, even walk in groups in some places. I don't care for the bells myself, always thought they were dinner bells. ;-)

Also, where bears are not hunted such as in national parks, they can be more bold. Where they are hunted, they keep a respectful distance from humans, if they become aware of them.

[Milspec]

23. During a hunt a few years ago..

A Black bear almost got me. I came crashing from the brush at high speed. When it dropped after my first shot it was at my feet and I had blood spray on my pants