Friday, October 09, 2015

MT: Fed Bears, Dead Bears; and Dead Woman



Was an 85-Year-Old woman a victim of Disneyitis?  She was born two years after the release of the first Mickey Mouse cartoon.

She, much like Timothy Treadwell, appears to be a victim of severe anthropomorphism (thinking of animals as humans).  In this case, she was feeding several black bears.  One of them broke into her house and killed her.  From missoulian.com:
KALISPELL - The elderly woman attacked by a black bear inside her home west of Kalispell over the weekend has died from injuries she sustained in the incident.
The Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks personel stated the problem well: 
“This is a very unfortunate situation,” FWP Warden Capt. Lee Anderson said. “These bears were extremely habituated and food-conditioned, and they posed a danger to the people who live in the area.

“The last thing we wanted to do is to kill these bears. But we had no choice because of the danger they pose to local residents.”

Anderson and other FWP officials made the comments before Paschke’s death was announced. The woman had not been identified prior to Thursday.

Anderson said FWP does not know how many bears were food-conditioned at the woman’s residence.
Feeding of bears is against the law in Montana.  It is bad for bears, because it makes them dependent, unable to forage for themselves, unless they are taking food from people.   When they become dependent on taking food from people, they lose all respect for people and become an active danger.  It is not  much of a step, from becoming dependent on handouts, to taking what is not offered.

Given the self-created danger of the situation, almost any gun could have been used to stop this attack, but next to having a gun when needed, the most important thing is having the willingness to use it.

Bears are always armed with numerous weapons.  Using them is part of their nature.

 ©2015 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.     Link to Gun Watch

4 comments:

Wireless.Phil said...

Too bad for both of them.

Anonymous said...

It is sad when people die from complete stupidity and makes you wonder how they got to the age they died at. This is the kind of intelligence that people like our incompetent president exudes. he gives our enemies money and they use that money not for food or necessities but to by better weapons to kill us with Or a congress that believe in throwing money at every problem is going to solve everything. I wonder if the young woman killed in san Francisco was glad she lived in a sanctuary city. What ever happened to common sense? there is a reason they call wild animals wild. there is a reason we call illegal aliens illegal. Bears do not belong on your porch and illegal aliens do not belong in this country.

Anonymous said...

"It is not much of a step, from becoming dependent on handouts, to taking what is not offered."

That lesson applies to more than bears.

Anonymous said...

This does not qualify as a Darwinian Moment because the woman most likely passed on her genes to at least one more generation. A horrible way to go in any case