I ran across this site, the North American Bear Center (http://www.bear.org/website/) a short time ago. It's quite interesting. These folks run a bear park near Ely, Minnesota. They have three bears, Ted at 860 pounds, Honey a female at 555 pounds and Lucky a one year cub.
They claim that black bears are not as dangerous as they are made out to be. :-\ :-\
Anyhow I'm not going to begin editorializing yet. It's an interesting site. There are many videos available for downloading. Here's a clip from one. It's a Momma and three cubs, with the cubs nursing. Oh, this bear and her cubs live in the forest surrounding the bear center. She has been acclimatized to the presence of humans and ignores them. ??? (the clip is 29 seconds long)
(https://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q75/djmillerbucket/video-miscellaneous/th_NursingCubs_clip_converted.jpg) (https://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q75/djmillerbucket/video-miscellaneous/?action=view¤t=NursingCubs_clip_converted.flv)
For a still of Honey and ted go HERE (http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=4484.msg55106#msg55106).
(https://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q75/djmillerbucket/animals/lookingforlunch.jpg)
Hang food safely out of reach of the bears. ;D
(https://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q75/djmillerbucket/animals/two-cubs.jpg)
Ahhh yes. Observe the species: environmentalist bears-are-my-brothers. Here's another one:
http://dwb.adn.com/front/story/4110831p-4127072c.html
I remember this doper. The bears were just cleaning out the gene pool.
Glen
I got about half way thru his book and couldn't finish it, it was that stupid. I'm surprised he lasted as long as he did. There was another guy over in Russia who studied bears. I think he was also killed by a bear about the same time. I think that he didn't have his but so far up though, more of a science guy. Anybody know about that.
There's a guy in NH who's a bear guy (Ben something) he has been on TV a lot lately he knows a lot and is worth checking out. He has raised orphan cubs and returned them to the wild.
Story I heard out of Maine there was a hound guy, they hunt with hounds up there, guess he was mean to his dogs. Well they had one bear and it turned on him somehow, don't remember the details, think he was in a narrow creek bed. Well he started hollering, can't blame him for that, but all his dogs ran off. I guess he got out with just a little chewing up? Well anyone who knows hounds knows they weren't scared of the bear! It's not funny but it's funny. So be nice to all those pups. :)
Mike
Mike
I've seen the site Don, and like a lot of other hug a bear sites, it bothers me. I really love watching my bears but...at an arms length. Bears and for that fact, all wild animals, need to stay wild. Being so used to humans that they pay no attention to them is a ticket to disaster.
My wife found that out about raccoons a few years ago, She saw a coon behind my shop and started feeding it. Then 2 then 3 and so on. One night I came out and she was sitting on the step, with a gallon size can of vanilla pudding, feeding 23 of them with a wooden spoon. I have a picture somewhere.
I told her to stop and of course she didn't listen. 2 came down with rabies and I killed 9 of them. One got in the attic and had chilluns. They tore the roof up and I had to put a new roof on and do a lot of sheet rock work inside. I killed a few more ...and I had to eat stir fry every time I started shooting them.
I've got it down to one or two now and she has stopped feeding them at last.
The bears get fed too but by stealing from the deer feeders. That's what bears do for a living and as long as they don't expect me to feed them, I don't see any harm in it. In fact, I couldn't stop it as long as the deer feeders are out.
These folks that try to make pets out of them either get killed or cause the bears to be killed. Usually the bear. As a hunter, I'd rather keep wild animals wild (Even though I don't hunt bears anymore, my son does).
I don't happen to think they're all that dangerous, but I have a large gun and I try to remember that their ways are their ways. I wish that all the Bambi people would get eaten! :-\
I agree that wild animals need to stay wild... saw a thing this morning about a little kid playing in a sandbox in CA and a coyote ran up and grabbed her by the seat of the pants in broad daylight. The nanny rescued the little girl, but guess she had a little bit of a bite. I hate to see stuff like that because it perpetuates the myths that coyotes are so aggressive and are likely to attack humans, but at the same time as wild animals learn not to fear humans, it's going to happen more and more often.
Second coyote attack yesterday. This one in Lake Arrowhead. Mother was out taking pictures of the 3 little children and went inside to put camera down when she heard one scream. Came out to find a coyote carrying away a two year old girl. She rescued the girl. They are still looking for the coyote.
I couldn't picture that doper as being any other way, Mike. I doubt he really fully recovered from the dope -- I don't often see that happen. Why would I want to try to learn anything from him? hmm
In the end we did all learn a good lesson from him and I guess we owe him for that. [idea]
I had the coon problem, Peter. Not intentionally feeding them but allowing them to come around and steal. Finally had to get rid of them -- they were destroying the place and keeping us up nearly every night banging around.
...and there is not a lot of room in the upcoming world for stupid people. I think we will be back to survival of the fittest some day...so if I'm ever gone...
The subject of this rant is: Love your animals, shoot them.
People that "humanize" animals are one of my pet peeves. On this board I would imagine we all have had wild pets as animals, my guess is they all died wild, not domesticated. Almost any person who KNOWS and Really LOVES animals wants them to stay as free of human interference as possible. Peta people think of them as kinda human and want them to be cute. There was a video making the rounds last week showing two cheetah cubs learning to kill an antelope. Boy the comments were really sad. The Peta wanna bes were saying how horrible the video was, how sad, how brutal, my favorite "nature's brutality".... What is wrong with these people? I guess it is because we have gone from being a predominately rural country to almost exclusively city dwellers.
Anyway the solution to most problems of animals around the rural house are good dogs, backed up by a good gun. The dogs will keep most animals away and the gun will solve any problems with the aggressive ones that won't listen. Boy that must be un-pc.
I have cured many problems with frozen paint balls, hence the name of this rant. The best thing a person who has a real love for nature can do is to keep ALL wild animals afraid of them. If any animal grows un-afraid of humans they are almost certainly to be given an early death. Some by euthanization (generally dislike that word, mostly shows cowardice to not say kill) to protect humans or being run over or when the person who trained them to be un-afraid grows afraid and someone has to shoot them (no stones cast peternap, I understand cause I've been there)
By the way those Petas that live with Bears also need to be shot with frozen paint balls if they get within 100 yards of a wild bear. I want that job, official with a badge, pinch me ok awake again. Leave em wild so I don't have to shoot them to live because I truly hate un-necessarily killing animals and truly want them to live wild.
I wonder how many of these Peta types have actually created habitat in the wild for our wild friends ??? Prob approaching zero percent, they just want to send in their bucks to save a fish some where.
Anyway sorry for the rant, ever since the cheetah thing d* oohhh well feel better now. c*
Well, desimulacra, glad I could supply the opportunity for you to get on the cheetah rant. :) The PETA types probably love the chettahs as much as they love the poor little antelopes. Wonder where they figure their meals come from, if not from killing something. Not all animals were born vegans/vegetarians.
The videos on the NABC site are something to watch. That part is interesting. But like everyone, so far, has said... wild animals should be left alone to be wild as naturally as is possible. If you want a pet get a dog or if you must, a cat. No offense meant to cat lovers, it's just that I'm a dog guy, not a cat guy.
As a kid growing up rural, we didn't have much use for animals that didn't work in some way or that we couldn't eat. My own kids grew up watching all the disney stuff... Lion King, Nemo, yes even Bambi :(. 8 years ago they were treated to a view of how the real wild works. We have a "pet" roadrunner that roosts in our porch. It is actually pretty nice to have in the yard, as he cleans up nasty bugs and snakes, although I wish he would leave the lizards alone. My kids saw him steal a chick from a nest in a tree in our yard, and he killed the chick by repeatedly picking it up and throwing it on the ground. I had a long talk with my kids about how animals in the wild come to their ends. It is never in a grassy bed, surrounded by other animals singing it off and waving flowers.
Luckily my kids are practical young people, and they got it. They may never be hunters, but they will be tolerant and supportive of the activity. We're not quite as crazy as he Nugent family, but we agree with what he says.
-f-
Quote from: NM_Shooter on May 08, 2008, 05:49:36 PM
We're not quite as crazy as he Nugent family......
rofl rofl [hungry] [hungry]
"I had a long talk with my kids about how animals in the wild come to their ends. It is never in a grassy bed, surrounded by other animals singing it off and waving flowers. "
Now if I had of just said that it would have been a lot less typing! d*
and Thanks Again MountainDon and I agree with you about the cats, they are the worst (besides humans) to kill without reason and they kill a lot of small game.
I am one of those "tree huggers," but I'm not a bear hugger. I'm moving to a place with bears on and near my property, surrounded by national forest, national park, and several wilderness areas. One was shot there last year just for walking through someone's yard. Not cool.
My attitude toward wild animals has changed through many years and encounters, one life threatening (two cubs and BIG mama). Now I know that these animals are wild and unpredictable. I don't want to shoot one, even though we have a rifle capable of taking one down. So I'll do everything possible not to attract them.
Attitudes towards animals, both wild and domestic, are all over the map. It's appalling that we are OK with "euthanizing" millions of cats and dogs, and yet the ones who make it into our homes are often treated like royalty. Elephants can paint pictures, but are being hunted to near extinction in the wild. It's just crazy. ???
A few years ago, we were camping in northern Wisconsin and baked a few sweet potatoes in the ashes of our fire for supper. Unfortunately, supper was so good we forgot the sweet potatoes in the ash and were awakened just after midnight to look out, not 10' from our tent, to see a large black bear happily scraping the foil off the sweet potatoes and munching down. I think DH and I held our breath the whole time and tried our best not to make a sound. Thankfully, the bear seemed happy with his dessert and ambled off into the woods. Thankfully, it was a mistake we only made once.
One of our favorite places to camp is in far southeastern OK. When our oldest daughter was maybe 4-5 months old, we spent a week camping down there. A lot of folks feed the raccoons because they're funny to watch, so they are completely fearless around people. We'd been fishing all day and didn't get around to eating until after dark. Our lantern needed a new wick, so we were sitting in the dark except for the fire when this little paw came up over the end of the table and into a bag of cookies. He took two cookies and then a few minutes later, two more paws came up over the end of the table... and snatched the whole bag! Keep in mind, we were sitting right there at the table! I'd chase them off and two minutes later they'd be back. Well, we'd had to hike in our food, and DH was lazy about carrying it all to the car because he'd made a few trips with the ice chest and cooking utensils already, and it was late, so he decided to stash a grocery bag in the tent with us. Most of the stuff in there was sealed in ziplocks, he reasoned, so nothing would bother it. Yeah, right. ::) In the middle of the night, DH sat up in the dark and said in a loud whisper, "SOMETHING just walked across my legs!!!" I grabbed a flashlight and turned it on to find a raccoon with a guilty expression digging through the grocery bag. He was agile enough to unzip the end of the tent and come in without us even knowing it until he stepped on DH's toes. DH yelled and the coon took off, snacks in tow. Needless to say, DH made a trip right then to the car to put what little food we had left away, and I've never had to try to convince him not to attract them since then.
If you are camping in bear country you you might even want to go as far as....
...never cooking or eating in the tent, if you are tenting.
...food locked in the vehicle if there is one.
...never sleeping in the clothes you cooked or ate in.
...among other things.
Keep in mind that wild coons, when threatened, trapped in a corner, etc. are not the cute little creatures you see in front of you. They are a vicious, fighting, biting, ripping, tearing machine with a set of razor sharp teeth that can easily shred you if they want.
Never offer them a finger or hand in friendship. They may take it. d*
We lost a dog to a coon... killed our german shepard...well the dog got the coon... but the coon slashed the dog on the throat badly and we had to put the dog down
they are a wild vicious and they can be a large animal....
I will shake hands with them with a large stick...i do not own a gun
I had a coon iin a live trap and put a stick in to block it while I carried it out -- the coon bit the end off the stick -- ripped the trap open and ran out. Lucky it didn't give me a bite on the way.
There is a video on the internet of an African game warden relocating a black leopard. He's got the critter in a cage in the back of his truck. He decides to torment it a bit with a stick before remotely raising the cage door at the tailgate of the truck. Instead of running away the leopard is clawing at the drivers door faster than can be believed. Our brainless hero in a hurried attempt to roll the window up the last few inches manages to start rolling it down. He doesn't die, but the leopard has his fun with the guy before said game warden figures out the right way to close the window.
I'm on dial up so these things take a while to download but if you search for "don't poke kitty" you'll find it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Efb55fddOY&eurl=http://video.google.com/videosearch?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=s&hl=en&q=
Ask me about coons. I have got 7 stitches in the finger and three in the back of the leg from a supposable "pet" coon. Dad was a game warden for 42 years and had managed to confinscate one. While awaiting trial there was no place to keep it so we kept it at home. It was gentle and would play just like a dog until our Norweigen started to chase it and I new I had to catch it. Wrong. Don't blame the coon as it was just scared and thought I was the dog grabbing it.
Also had a black bear cub for about a month or two until it started getting feisty and it was sent to a game farm. No real injuries but it was almost to that point.