I am feeling really preachy about the whole "aerial bear hunting" thing

[PBS Poll-435]

Sorry, but I really must insist.

From http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=6827897&mesg_id=6827897





Bear hunting via helicopter?

Are you FUCKING kidding me?

I don't want any bears "hunted." Ever.

They are not a prize to be showcased at the local PTA meeting.

If bears are encroaching on human habitats, then FUCKING dart them and move them back to the wilderness. They only want food.

[Lex]

1. is it with a machine gun?

I read it was hunting from a helicopter *with a machine gun* but that sounded so ridiculous that I thought it must be wrong.

[PBS Poll-435]

4. Honestly, I don't know

Tactical police helicopters are often equipped with automatic "machine" guns, though.

[PM7nj]

2. Have you seen her parent's living room?

:wow:

[Lex]

3. When her dad dies, will his skin go up there too?

Or mom?

:shrug:

[NYC_SKP]

5. Alaska is "different"...

It could be a different country....

There are "Northern Exposure" type enclaves, but the picture is pretty representative of many of the people there.

[PBS Poll-435]

8. I know that bears are not people

But seriously,

I am truly at a loss for words.

[NYC_SKP]

29. Don't tell Grizzly Man... (or Tim Treadwell)

Not grizzly man the DU member, Timothy Treadwell, the subject of the fascination Herzog film, "Grizzly Man".

He got a little too chummy with his furry friends and, well, I won't spoil the ending...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grizzly_Man

:patriot:

[sandnsea]

12. I seriously doubt that

As I said in another thread, I've lived in Oregon and Montana all my adult life, my siblings live in Arkansas and one in Utah. NO. That is not normal. Except for the handful of militia types.

[roguevalley]

19. actually, not really. they are country people and you find them like

that.most of us don't do that. Lots of hunters, many from other places who like an easy hunt and a big fat story for Delaware and Ohio and such.

Aerial hunting sucks and we have voted it down three times. Palin doesn't care any more than Murkowski.

[katandmoon]

6. I wish that was a really mad Bigfoot looking through the window

[PBS Poll-435]

7. I really wish I had never seen that

:cry:

Honestly.

[PBS Poll-435]

15. Plus....Why does mommy have sideburns?

:shrug:

[NYC_SKP]

32. Maybe "mommy" is really....

...Oh, I can't do it, I just can't.

The LGBT squad would be all over me.

Happy day!

[Blondiegrrl]

18. Yuck. They live in a wildlife morgue. n/t

[OwnedByFerrets]

30. ,,,,,,

fucking asshole...doesnt that make you feel so fucking macho?? I hate Mf's like you.:mad:

[Life Long Dem]

9. Are they using darts from the helicopter?

[PBS Poll-435]

10. No. They are using assault rifles

[liberalmuse]

11. It makes me want to throw up a gut.

Apalling! I hear this same shit from a 'pub I work with. And it was like this when I lived in Salt Lake. If there's an animal like a bear or cougar in its habitat, but some asshat gun nut sees it, they get all their cracker friends and their guns together to go kill it. Hearing about people hunting animals for sport makes me physically ill. To know they're doing it from moving vehicles and helicopters with high-powered rifles and machine guns puts me in a dark, dark place.

[PBS Poll-435]

13. I don't know why I am so emotional about this, but

It should be criminal.

[ccharles000]

17. I agree.

[PBS Poll-435]

22. Thanks a lot

I know we are a union of 50 States, but there is no rational reason to kill any bear that is not an immediate threat to humans.

Hunting bears from aircraft? That is pure evil.

[Raine]

23. I'm emotional about it too

it's a real sore point with me. If I had nothing else against this is all I need to become enraged.

[PM7nj]

24. Why the fuck would you want to kill a bear?

No one eats bear. You don't make "bearburgers." Why the fuck would anyone want to kill a bear? For fun? To pin it up on your wall? That's sick! :puke:

[PBS Poll-435]

25. Exactly

You get it.

I guess I live in a bubble. I had really no idea that people were this evil before.

[NYC_SKP]

33. This is why. Second class citizens and, frankly they're un-American!

Bears aren't people, bears are animals and, like all resources, are there for our pleasure and exploitation. :sarcasm:

And, they're un-American:

http://www.colbertnation.com/?p=1648

:hi:

[Blondiegrrl]

14. If you have the stomach, watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zr183lk-wQk

Sickening.

[PBS Poll-435]

16. Warn me ahead of time.

Just what is it?

I may not have the stomach.

[Blondiegrrl]

20. Defenders of Wildlife's video footage of aerial hunting of wolves.

It's not bloody, but it is shocking and sad. The wolf gets shot multiple times and is still staggering and running, trying to outrun the low-flying plane. Many times, the hunter can't make a clean kill and he simply runs the wolf until it collapses from exhaustion.

I don't blame you if you can't watch it.

[PBS Poll-435]

21. I will try.

Thank you.

[Liberty Belle]

26. She supports aerial killing of wolves in Alaska with barbaric tactics:

http://critternews.blogspot.com/2008/08/palin-supports-brutal-method-of-killing.html

She even asked hunters to cut off wolves' legs and bring them to her:
http://critternews.blogspot.com/2008/08/bring-palin-wolf-leg-get-15000.html

Someone should make a video likening her to Cruella DaVille.

[AkFemDem]

27. Black bear is very tasty. Brown bear (Grizzly) not so much

There really is no modern purpose in brown bear hunting other than trophy hunting. Ariel hunting is just plain evil (and lazy). There is a ballot measure this year in Alaska to ban it, maybe this will be the yr it ends.

I don't know a single local who ariel hunts. It sounds like something rich outsiders do when they come up here to pretend they are sportsmen in the "wild". It is shameful that our governor would engage in that practice!

[vanderBeth]

28. Aeriel hunting seems especially cruel

It doesn't have even the "game" of hunting. It is chasing an animal until exhaustion and then shooting it point-blank.

[RichardRay]

31. It's not the bear's fault, but the bear pays the price...

One of the most graceful things in the world is a full grown adult griz rising to his back feet to see over the brush; he doesn't seem to shift his weight, or use any effort at all. That huge body and all that mass and energy just levitate. When he looks at you from 100 yards away you can feel him telling you that you're getting away with being in his space only because he doesn't want to bother with you. Sure, us little, soft, weak bipeds have invented lots of ways to impose ourselves on him, but don't let that fool you: he's the boss.

Bears get acclimated to human beings. People feed them, either on purpose or just by not securing their garbage. The 'problem bears' get darted and relocated, and a substantial percentage of them come right back to their original territory, even from many miles away. Pretty soon the bears are on people's porches, waiting for the next bag of garbage. It may or may not be the house where they got tasty bites yesterday, they're smart enough to figure out that if one house has good eats, most houses will. Then the 8 year old steps out of the door, freaks out, scares the bear and gets swatted.

Bad bear, kill the bad bear.

So, that bear had to go, but you don't solve the problem by killing more of them. You solve it by not tolerating the human behavior that trained the bear. I live with bears every day. I probably see griz a dozen times a summer and black bears are like chipmunks around here. I get really, really pissed when I see people feeding them on purpose, and equally unhappy when I have to tell somebody more than once to secure their garbage in a bear proof container. If you can't figure out how to live with them in a way that doesn't train them to misbehave, then go live someplace else.

Don't even get me started on a bounty on wolves shot from the air...