Were any dentists seen nearby?
This has been brewing for a while and will probably happen more often as time goes on. Yellowstoneâs bear restoration efforts have been successful to the point that some argue theyâre overcrowded, and bears are wandering outside the park more often looking for space. Granted, Gardiner is so close to Yellowstone it might as well be part of the park, but communities all around the region are seeing more bears than they used to.
Iâm not saying that the shooting was justified, but thereâs a reason bears were killed to the point of being endangered: theyâre scary as fuck and if you catch one rooting around in the barn youâre going to be way more worried about preserving your livelihood.
The situation needs to be managed, and right now I donât think anything is being considered.
this is singularly unsatisfying. Not just the death of the bear, but also the fact that neither this nor the source article have any details about the circumstances. Just âshot near Gardiner, Mt.â . I found the park service press release, which contained the following-
âMontana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has confirmed that the male grizzly
bear shot in late November 2015 was the bear known to researchers as No.
211. No. 211 was killed in the Little Trail Creek drainage north of
Gardiner, Montana on the Gallatin National Forest, an event under
investigation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.â
So not much information. And odd that the press release came out on 4/25, for an incident in November. The source article indicated that this bear was unlikely to have attacked someone, but I think that is an assumption not based on any particular facts. The bear had lost half of his normal body weight, and was an adult Grizzly. It is worth noting that any incident involving a threatened species is automatically investigated by the Forest Service and State Fish and Game.
Also, the following related information-
The article is pretty sparse on details. If it was near the edge of the park, I am betting on a local land owner. Otherwise, it was probably a poacher, though typically a poacher is after something such as meat, trophy racks or claws, or maybe in the case of a bear, gall bladders. Was he cut up at all or not?
Scarface had a long history with people that made him an unlikely candidate to attack a photographer or a hunter.
Unlikely, but not impossible. Remember that bears, even if semi-used to people, are wild animals. One should exercise caution around them no matter how cute or what human traits we assign to them. That includes domesticated animals like cows as well. (Again, it doesnât justify poaching, but just because a lot of people took his picture and he never attacked anyone, doesnât mean he was harmless. Ask that âGrizzly Guyâ who got him and his girlfriend eaten about that.)
They meant a death from old age, not from gunshots.
Considering death from old age usually doesnât mean falling a sleep and not waking up, or surrounded by loved ones on a hospital bed with a morphine drip in the animal world, if he really only had a year to live that might not have been a bad way to go.
Facts not in evidence, your honour.
You are assuming that the red neck gun nut who did this knew WTF he was doing, and killed the animal cleanly with one shot. Given the shooterâs reckless disregard for the rules, that assumption is obviously without foundation.
Well I guess we donât know how good the shot was. But even taking an hour to die from a bad shot is preferable to starving to death, which is what happens when one gets too old and sick to find food.
is a fine example of
And while were on the topic of assumptions, the expressions âthe Jews at Goldman Sachsâ or âThe Chinamen in Pekingâ are clearly hateful and should be used with great care. How does your âredneck gun nutâ comment look in comparison?
I wonder if Scarface was related to the âBald-Headed Bearâ of Claire County?
Irony isnât just a river in Egypt, you know.
Why I support the right of bear arms.
Donât you mean the right to Arm Bears?
In the context ofâŚ
Shooting a grizzly is unlawful except in self-defense
âŚand no one reporting an aggressive bear, it looks accurate.
Itâs a sad comment on the modern, electronic, detached world we live in when people think wild animals are nothing but happy go lucky Disney characters. This is a terrible article full of left leaning assumptions and no real facts. Hereâs a fact; wild animals, especially top predators, are always dangerous. Since theories are being thrown around here based on nothing hereâs another one for your consideration; maybe he suffered a stroke and got confused and flipped out?
Howâs âdonât shoot the fucking bears unless theyâre trying to eat you, and even then, be ready to explain yourselfâ remotely âleft leaningâ? A law abiding, sensible gun-owner who unfortunately had to shoot an animal that posed a threat should surely have had no problem explaining that fact no matter their political affiliations, surely? Those much-vaunted âconservativeâ values of self-reliance and duty ought to mean theyâd be perfectly sure what theyâd done was right, wouldnât you say?
âThe Jews at Goldman Sachs left work early to be home for Passover, thus the Chinamen in Peking were redirected to their Gentile associates for the conference call.â
Clearly hateful!
well, i have been trying to follow up on this one, as we have a number of bears on our place. Some places, including popular science even listed the bear as âillegally killed by a poacherâ, but somehow got that from the Fish and Wildlife bulletin that did not say that at all. On the other hand, I did dig out the following report from the time of the shooting:
The current local issue seems to be whether this new information was released at this time in relation to the political controversy around the issue of possibly delisting the grizzly as a threatened species. Also, there have been accusations that the bear was shot during a protected Native American hunt. Gardiner residents seem to be of the opinion that over hunting during these events is hurting the elk population in their area. The Native spokesmen deny that a tribal member would kill a grizzly. So the whole thing is a mess, and is unlikely to be sorted out any time soon.
FYI- I do not allow, and have never allowed, people to hunt bears on our land. But my Dad used to hunt bear when he was young. He is now happy to just see them now and then, especially a big cinnamon bear that we see from time to time. I am not in any way opposed to hunting, but I like to see the land that I have some control over resemble itâs natural state, including apex predators. In case anyone is interested, this is my backyard-
MB
âStand your groundâ is in part based on the dubious premise that âno one shall question my assertion of self defenseâ.
