Friday, March 5, 2010

Wildlife and the Public's Safety

The below story is about a dog-eating black bear, and ties into the point I wish to make. Over the past 30-40 years the number of animals that can be classified as predators has sharply increased not only in the rural areas of America but in the suburbs. One need only look at the exploding alligator population in many southern states, the inroads the western coyote has made in most areas east of the Mississippi River, the vastly increased black bear population, the expanding wolf population in the western states and to a lesser extent into some areas east of the Mississippi and finally the occasional reports of big cats seen in areas where they were formally extinct.

Sure its nice for the city dweller who makes an occasionally trip to the countryside to get a fleeting glance at these beautiful creatures. But for those who live in these areas these same animals, these predators are becoming more and more a threat to livestock, family pets and in some case the humans who live there and visit. Its no longer safe to swim in many lakes in Florida and Louisiana, its unwise to take your dog into a forest area and give him free reign, its unsafe to leave you small children alone even for a minute in many nature areas. Its easy for those who live in the city to say leave those animals alone they aren't hurting anyone; but for those who must live next to them in the rural parts of America its another story. The balance has tipped in favor of the predator in this country not just the two-legged kind, but that four-legged furry one as well. New Jersey Authorities Capture Dog-Eating Black Bear

A dog-eating black bear was tranquilized by authorities in New Jersey Thursday after it became stuck under the backyard deck of a house.

The bear was spotted in several locations in Wayne, about 15 miles from midtown Manhattan, Wednesday night after killing a homeowner’s border collie. Another resident reported her two Labrador retrievers were missing.

Members of the New Jersey Division of Fish & Wildlife removed the bear from under the deck after tranquilizing it.

Wayne Police Department officials said the bear will be euthanized, according to Fox 5 News reporter Mike Gilliam.

The American black bear is the smallest and most common species of bear. Source: FOX News

7 comments:

Snarky Basterd said...

I say they should let that thing lose in the Everglades to do battle with the exploding Burmese python population. Maybe they can cancel each other out.

MathewK said...

"Its easy for those who live in the city to say leave those animals alone...."

And many of those halfwits prefer to let humans die and animals leave, unless it's one of them off course.

If there are too many gators, i can't see why some clever Americans can't start some sort of gator-skin business. I'd love a gator-skin wallet, my ostrich-skin one is on it's last legs you see.

Unknown said...

The problem with these leftists is that they value the animal as being on equal footing as humans. They believe that all life (except unborn babies) is of equal value and they believe that it is wrong for us to control the population of dangerous animals because we are to blame for their attacks because we are infringing on their natural habitats.

Matt said...

I think the libs should be left alone in the wild to tell all the critters how much they respect their habitat. That will also take care of our lib overpopulation problem.

Right Truth said...

You know what would happen where we live if a bear or any other wild animal threatened humans or pets ... He would get shot and I don't mean with a tranquilizer gun.

When an animal destroys property or life in the real world, small towns and rural areas, people protect themselves and their property, period.

I'm an animal lover and would never hurt of kill anything without good reason.

Debbie
Right Truth
http://www.righttruth.typepad.com

Findalis said...

What the bear did is not his fault. That is his nature to kill dogs.

But it is also Human nature to kill bears that kill dogs.

BTW MK, you can get gator-skin wallets here. There is a nice European style one for only $254.00 US.

Bloviating Zeppelin said...

I used to go "train chasing" a lot in the high granite of the Sierra Nevada Mountains where I live, documenting trains photographically and on video. I'd occasionally go armed with a small Model 60 and maybe a speedloader.

These days I'm armed with a 10"-bladed knife in a custom back scabbard, my Ruger Bulldog Pug with five speedloaders and my Glock 17 with two extra magazines.

Any bad animal I come across will, hopefully, weigh slightly more in death than in life.

And your post is precisely why.

BZ