 |
| |
|
|
Sikander
|
 |
Boulder, Colorado, United Snakes of America
Jan 2000
time: 22:21
|
|
Bear and mountain lion populations are certainly on the rise in many parts of the U.S. They were almost wiped out entirely, and have repopulated an immense area where they hadn't been seen in decades. Mad Monk is correct in saying that these areas have been under human control for a long time, and it is the wildlife which is encroaching. Of course such niceties have little effect on human or animal alike.
Black bear attacks are very rare, in the whole of North America over the last century there has been an average of less than one fatality a year. So this story is quite a shock to many, especially since the Catskills have had so very few bear in the 20th century.
There are quite a few black bears in my state Colorado. We are worried that the current drought will bring more of them into towns and neighborhoods to feed. We are pretty aggressive with bears from experience. If a bear is caught in town he is tranquilized and relocated to a wilderness area as far from human settlement as can be economically arranged. He is also tagged for identification. If that bear is caught again in a human area he is killed. This happended to a bear that was scavenging in the park next to my apartment a decade ago. After months of citizen complaints he was relocated, but managed to migrate to an area where there were a few people and broke into someone's cabin. The wildlife officers shot "Old #9" (as he was called) on the spot.
Some friends of mine live in what is now a ghost town, but was once a thriving mining town over a hundred years ago. It is pretty remote, not far from the continental divide and an enormous wilderness area. They had a bear in the area that was breaking into houses and cabins, doing a lot of damage. I lent them a shotgun and an automatic rifle when that bear began to drop by their place on occasion. It was pretty funny to see my (110 lb) friend Darcy in her nightgown telling the bear off at about 3:00 AM with my 12 gauge tucked under her arm. Between Darcy and her malemute the bear decided to take off. He came back quite a few times, but my friends chased him away each time until everyone was gone one night. The bear broke into the house, knocked over the refrigerator and helped himself to what was inside, quite a mess.
The more dangerous animal by far which has also seen a huge population explosion is the mountain lion, aka the wildcat, the puma, the cougar etc. These very rarely seen animals are a lot more likely to attack a human than a black bear, who usually are forced into a conflict with humans while trying to feed on other things. Mountain lions don't naturally eat humans either, but they sometimes will have a go at someone, especially a young child who is left even slightly unattended. In the 14 years I have lived in Colorado there have been 3 people killed by mountain lions here, two 3 year old kids who were hiking with their families, and a 19 year old runner who unfortunately must have been quite fascinating to the mountain lion who pounced on him. Authorities managed to track two of the lions down and kill them, the lion that killed the runner was a mother who had two kittens which were also dispatched.
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
The Mad Monk
|
 |
of Ice Cream
Mar 2000
time: 23:21
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by Osweld
Ah, I see... you killed them all off a hundred years ago so it's not their territory anymore. And now that they are returning and 'invading' 'your' territory, you feel justified in killing them all again.
I find this particularily odd coming from you - I mean, wouldn't the same apply to other situations? Wouldn't the palestenians be justified in attacking their isreal invaders? And, for that matter, wouldn't all war and terrorism be justified since massacring entire populations is apparently a perfectly acceptable and reasonable way to get things done? |
They are not 'returning' on their own, the idiotic government put them there!
Why were bear hunted out of the region in the first place? Because they were competitors for living space and food, and in addition a danger to safety. So it was left for many years, until people who had never known what was like to live in close proximity to bears decided to bring bears back, to restore the balance.
What balance? the land had changed, had become a patchwork of towns and farms, with no region entirely 'untouched'. Everywhere was in close proximity to civilization, and as was said earlier, bears need lots of space. In their efforts to 'restore the balance', they completely overlooked this little fact. One source I read said that black bears can roam an area of up to four hundred square miles -- a twenty-by-twenty mile patch of land. Even on a continental map, that's a noticeable chunk.
They had no business bringing large predators back here, no business at all.
|
|
| |
All times are GMT. The time now is 05:21.
Apolyton Time is 00:21. |
top of page
|
| archivepost |
|
Forum Rules:
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
|
HTML code is ON
vB code is ON
Smilies are ON
[IMG] code is ON
|
|
|
|
|
|
21-08-2002 13:14
|