Karma . . . but a bear will lose its life over it.

[Fancy]

Sitting in the habitat of a creature and waiting for one to come past your field of vision while you hide in the bush to shoot it with a bullet from 50 yards.......

I should be so lucky.

[twobits]

Sure they are creatures of habit - when they start eating garbage and then return to find - MORE GARBAGE....... unless you keep putting corpses in the same place, how are they to develop their "habit"? For the most part they are scavengers, they will eat ANYTHING dead.

Are you seriously this naive? A bear learning a habit or taste for human flesh from stumbling upon a dead corpse does not mean the bear now has a taste exclusively for dead human flesh. And putting corpses back in the same place is not required for the "habit" to be developed. Ask any farmer that has had bears learn to take chickens or sheep. That bear will not only return to the first farm to eat chickens, he will now recognize chickens on all farms throughout his range as a food source. That is the learned behaviour we are speaking of here. And it only takes once. From the Castanet news article.....


Lake says the creature was trapped Friday and was put down over the weekend because bears remember food sources and this one had clearly lost its fear of humans.

Do you think this was just presumption or was it based on evidence from the hunters that found the body and that of trained conservation officers. Personally I would prefer to err on the side of caution when dealing with a bruin that has eaten human flesh and clearly lost it's fear of humans. Then again, I suppose your solution would be to have an 8 ft high bear proof fence around every home in the area just as you would like to see them for the deer problem. We can all live in cages so no wild animal is shot.
As to humans "having evolved" and your apparent distain for hunters and preference for supermarket meat raised as a food source......I think of my game meat as being raised by mother nature as a food source, living free range, organic, free of chemicals and antibiotics, and living it's life as it was meant to in the wild. Not confined to a feedlot or 16 in. sq cage. To me it is you condoning cruel treatment of animals, not I.

[Rwede]

My eating habits are not relevant to this discussion (but to satisfy your curiosity, I am not a far cry from vegan for digestive necessity, not political reasons) - who is eating the dead bear? If this bear was showing genuine aggressive behaviours towards humans, I wouldn't say a peep = this kill is just plain abuse of power against natural habits - that pose ZERO threat to humans based on the evidence provided. You put dead ANYTHING in the path of a bear - it will eat it - doesn't equate into "it now has a taste for human so for the safety of everyone it must be killed" - that is a completely fear based reaction that holds no merit.

You are clearly quite clueless about the level of intelligence and instincts of black bears.

[Corneliousrooster]

You are clearly quite clueless about the level of intelligence and instincts of black bears.

How many 100's of million people live in North America? How many people have become bear dinner? Clearly you have a lot of fear based assumptions .....

[Corneliousrooster]

Lake says the creature was trapped Friday and was put down over the weekend because bears remember food sources and this one had clearly lost its fear of humans.

You mean the bear that they were not even positive was the bear that ate the corpse? "Clearly"

Then again, I suppose your solution would be to have an 8 ft high bear proof fence around every home in the area just as you would like to see them for the deer problem.

Yes, take my postings out of context to try and belittle my stance. I have ZERO problem with shooting aggressive bears. I have zero problem with hunting deer (don't think much of it as a "sport" but to each his own). I do NOT condone shooting animals that become an inconvenience because people and cities develop ill planned habitation strategies for the humans. I do NOT condone killing animals as a knee jerk preventative when there is nothing to warrant the killing. Such as this bear.

That bear will not only return to the first farm to eat chickens, he will now recognize chickens on all farms throughout his range as a food source.

That is called finding an EASY food source - not learning to like chickens - they are not stupid animals. One dead corpse in a car is not a food source that he can now easily find again - and back to the statistics - 23 dead humans from black bears in over 80 years out of a potential few hundred million humans. You are more likely to be eaten by another human for pete's sake.

I have encountered about 30 wild bears in my years hiking and biking in the woods(some within a few meters) - have i just beat the odds? Or perhaps bears are not as likely to attack humans as some are projecting? If they are not starving or have their cubs nearby they are pretty skittish creatures.

[Jeckle]

I should be so lucky.

I know, right!
Hormone free,
Preservative free,
Steroid free....
(no "Made in China" tags)
Not to mention all the $$$'s that hunters put into the economy, as well as conservation.
I would say the majority of us (hunters) care much more for nature, the animals and the environment than any environmentalist.

[Gone_Fishin]

I know, right!
Hormone free,
Preservative free,
Steroid free....
(no "Made in China" tags)
Not to mention all the $$$'s that hunters put into the economy, as well as conservation.
I would say the majority of us (hunters) care much more for nature, the animals and the environment than any environmentalist.

Hunters are the first conservationists. They pay 100% of the cost of managing wildlife in this province, and take on the lion's share of volunteer labour work to help protect and restore habitat.

I just put a nice black bear in the freezer this past weekend. Really looking forward to the hams and sausages!