Bear shot in Athens AL.

[Nalgene Ninja]

http://www.whnt.com/global/story.asp?s=8823730

Hmm, we may need to start thinking about bear bagging our vittles. Too bad the cops or game wardens were so trigger happy.   

[Nalgene Ninja]

Crud, wrong forum. Matt, please move this to Gen Discussion.

[cwhiker]

I can't believe they killed it. why did they not have a tranquilizer gun with them they knew they were responding to a call about a bear? 

[Joshua Szulecki]

Officials did try to contact a local veterinarian to get a tranquilizer shot but they say they had no luck. -article

It is my understanding that at the exact time the bear was shot, there was a Vet preparing a tranquilizer. -public comment to article

Odd... I'm inclined to believe the article rather than an unnamed comment source, but this does seem odd.

[PastorLarryT]

Very odd indeed.  It is a tragedy that the bear was killed.  I would hate to think that the Al Dept of CNR would not do their best to keep from killing a wild animal unless there was no other alternative. 

The sad fact is that when wild animals cross paths with humans it is usually the wildlife that suffers.

[Woody]

This is a awful There is no way they should have killed the bear. The bear was obviously affraid and non-confrontational. It burns me up that he said "It is a shame we had to kill the bear". Had to?! Had to?!!! aaahhhh!!!

[Joshua Szulecki]

I wonder if a taser will stop a bear, or just piss it off?

It sure does seem like they jumped the gun, no pun intended, and while I wonder why they didn't do more to avoid killing the animal, I also have to be mindful of the fact that the local authorities in Athens probably don't see many bears, and thus probably had no clue what to do.

It is a shame, because black bears in N. Alabama are pretty darned rare.

[Rob]

Quite a sad story. I am amazed that it was stated TWICE that they HAD to kill the bear. Sounds like the bear was making every effort to try to avoid confronting people directly and was not an obvious threat.

While watching the morning news yesterday I saw a report that a young boy was attacked by a black bear in GSMNP. The father of the child supposedly pulled the bear off the boy then pelted it with rocks to chase it off. I'm not sure what created the situation, but I'm sure the bear will be blamed. On a visit to GSMNP about two years ago, I was in Cades Cove and witnessed A very large number of MORONS following what  appeared to be an adult bear and two older cubs into the woods to get their tourist shots of the bears. I don't think it even entered the minds of these people what the potential dangers were, to themselves or the bears.

I once stayed in a backcountry shelter in GSMNP and it was equipped with bear cables to use for food storage, but other tenants of the same shelter did not use them or even appear to know what they were for. There food was strewn about the shelter with reckless abandon, and this disregard was continued even after we were all told there was recent bear activity in the area! Stupid is, stupid does, but that is O.K. it's the bears fault anyway,

Nature is there for us to observe and enjoy, but it should be respected. If you know your in bear country be responsible and respectful of the wildlife.

[Joshua Szulecki]

Yeah, any trip to GSMNP during bear season means driving past (if you can) at least one throng of morons outside their cars photographing a she-bear and her cub.

They killed that bear in GSMNP the other day, didn't they? I think they said it charged the rangers, but I may be mistaking it with a previous story...

[Nalgene Ninja]

Morons: Hey I resemble that remark!Actually I do know better than to get out of the car to chase a bear w/ a cub.

Bear shot in Athens AL.

[Rob]

Not sure what happend to the Bear Josh, the news media was focusing on the Heroics of the dad at the time of my viewing.

Nice pic FD1, Is that a backpack in the bears mouth?

[PastorLarryT]

WAAY-TV's article on the shooting... a little more info.  Looks like the bear had human contact quite a few times starting in Florida.  He had been relocated.

---

ATHENS, Ala. (WAAY) - A 250-pound bear showed up in an Athens residents backyard Saturday morning after making quite a long trip from Florida.

Mark Gibson's wife spotted the black bear Saturday morning in their backyard.

"She ran back in the house screaming and hollering to tell me that she had spotted the bear, and immediately I took it as a joke. I just busted out laughing," Gibson said.

But it was no joke. Claw marks showed where the bear climbed up Gibson's tree. Twelve hours later, the black bear was killed 30 yards behind Gibson's house.

"it was actually right...behind me in this wooded area where officials finally had to make the decision to take the bear down," Gibson said.

"I don't know if we've ever actually killed a black bear roaming through Alabama before. We usually are fortunate enough to remove the animal and take it out of state or take it to a real secluded area, but in this instance we weren't able to do so," said Capt. Johnny Johnson with the Alabama Wildlife & Freshwater Fisheries.

Green tags on the bear's ears determined his origin. He was first caught last November in Florida as a nuisance bear and was released back into the wild at Oseola National Forest.

Then on June 22,he was captured again in Georgia and released. On August 3, he was spotted in Cotaco in Morgan County. Finally he roamed across the Tennessee River and into the Athens subdivision where he was later killed.

Wildlife officials said it was apparent the bear was always returning to residential areas instead of trying to survive in the wild. That was becoming dangerous and residents like Gibson understand their decision.

"I was afraid that it had lost it's fear of humans and when they do that, they really become very dangerous," he said. "When it comes to a bears or a human, the bear's going to lose every time."

The bear was buried, and wildlife officials said they were upset over the loss. They did find a tranquilizer gun, but no serum was found in time to use on the bear before he decided to come down the tree towards officials.

Reporter: Laura Beth Ezzell
Web Editor: Dana Franks

(Copyright 2008 by WAAY-TV. All Rights Reserved.)

[Nalgene Ninja]

Nice pic FD1, Is that a backpack in the bears mouth?

That's the cub behind the mom's head. And 2 more cool things happened after this pic. There was a snake evidently between those logs, because it struck at the momma bear about 2 secs after this shot. And as mom and the snake were fighting, the cub takes off and jumps up into a nearby tree and climds about 20 ft up it. After 5 other trips to GSMNP, we finally see a bear and other wildlife. Admittably though it was the 1st trip that didn't center on hanging out in G'burg/P-Forge.
[/thread hijack]

[sam4msu]

The bear in the Smokey's was killed.  They said that it did in fact charge the Rangers.  I would guess that it was probably a bluff charge, but if I am the one who the bluff is aimed at I think I will error on the side of caution, which will lead to the bear, not me suffering!!!  We cannot blame these folks in Athens as we don't know what went on.  I would have to say that the these authorities are not very well trained as they are not very likely to come into contact with bears.  This bear was certainly evidence to the truth of the saying that "a fed bear is a dead bear."  It it truly is a shame that this has to happen, but as we continue to take away their natural habitat it will be more and more of a concern.  As far as tazering and cuffing and stuffing the bear???  You must have lost sense of your sanity!!!  Not likely a wise thing to do!!!  In a case like this I think we surely need to put human life over that of an animal that has made it self all to welcome in our neighborhoods amongst our pets and CHILDERN!!!

[Joshua Szulecki]

Flemdawg,

Was that bear you took pictures of located around the Laurel Falls trailhead? It looks like that area, and the far side of the road about 1/4mi-1/2mi from the trailhead is where I've seen people looking at bears a few time. Also once along 441, by one of the "silent trail" pulloffs.

[UPDATE: As Sam4MSU said, Rangers DID kill the bear in GSMNP, http://www.chicagotribune...-nataug13,0,7985452.story]

[Rob]

I'm certainly not trying to start a " Feed A Bear, Have More Kids" campaign, But as stated before, I think we should respect the nature of the beast. Wonder where the incident took place? What were the circumstances involved in the confrontation of the bear and child? It is a shame that even as vast as the GSMNP is that the bear could not be relocated without the fear there would be a re-occurance of the incident. There are millions of visitors to this park each year and an assumed 1,500 bears, with these odds it wouldn't take long for the bear to meet his doom if this happened more often. Hey, maybe we could create " Bear Reservations" this would keep those pesky savages at bay......... sound familiar?

[sam4msu]

I think in the GSMNP and in the Shenandoah Nat'l Forrest we should cage in the tourists, not the animals.  We are after all intruding in their territory!!!  I don't know the answer but we will have to come up with some way to keep these "beasts" safe...It is OUR responsibility to do this if we are to continue to intrude in their homes!!!

[Nalgene Ninja]

Flemdawg,

Was that bear you took pictures of located around the Laurel Falls trailhead? It looks like that area, and the far side of the road about 1/4mi-1/2mi from the trailhead is where I've seen people looking at bears a few time. Also once along 441, by one of the "silent trail" pulloffs.

Roaring Fork Motorway just outside of G'burg w/in a 1/2 mile of the Ogle cabin.

[Cuffs]

On a very strange note about the Athens bear... this bear was tagged...

It had been previously trapped and tagged.  In FLORIDA! 
I guess that just goes to show how large their range really is! 

I hate to admit it... Im from Athens originally, thankfully I can say I was not raised there!  As outdoorsy as that town is, Im kind of surprised at the reaction by the PD...