Bearing Bad News

It looks like we may have to take a day off from monkeys and apes today. It appears to be bear news day. Or bad news for bears. Or something.

Item one: German hunters have been given the green light to shoot a bear that has decided he really, really likes killing sheep. This is the first wild bear to be seen in Bavaria for 170 years, and was at first somewhat of a celebrity. Then he went on a rampage.

The German animal protection agency in Bavaria described as "hysterical" the decision to kill the bear, which had at first been welcomed when it wandered across the Austrian border at the weekend. But authorities were adamant.

"It is now a problem bear," Bavarian environment minister Werner Schnappauf said. "A man-bear encounter could occur at any time. It cannot be allowed to roam freely. We will ask hunters to shoot the bear."

Joern Ehlers, a spokesman for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), told German radio that it was unusual for bears, normally shy animals, to seek out food in the vicinity of humans.

"The WWF is trying to catch the bear alive," Ehlers said. "Initially we wanted to tag it so we could better track its movements, but now it looks as if this bear cannot be left out in the wild because it's simply too dangerous."

Of course the activists just want to capture the poor thing. Frankly, we don't think it's worth the risk to a human to try to capture it. This bear appears to have gone rogue and it really probably is best to kill it. What's interesting is that the bear slaughtered a number of sheep, but only ate the livers and the hearts. Are we sure this bear is from Austria and not Scotland?

Item two: A Finnish woman has been busy demonstrating the new national sport: the bear punt. Ok, that isn't strictly true. A Finnish woman out for a walk in the woods came face to face with a momma bear and her cub. Now anyone who knows anything about bears knows this is a particularly dangerous situation. Momma bears are very, very protective of their babies. So, the momma bear started to maul the woman who promptly kicked the bear right in the nose, causing it to flee.

"In this case the kick had the desired effect. If the bear had wanted to kill, such a kick would only have made the bear more aggressive," local police spokesman Jukka Turpeinen said.

Which of course brings to mind Blazing Saddles when Jim tells Sheriff Bart not to try to shoot Mongo, " If you shoot him, you'll just make him mad."

Sadly, we couldn't get the trifecta on bear facts, but the day is young!

UPDATE: The German bear appears to have fled the country and is believed to have returned to Austria.

Other Links to this Post

1. Blue Crab Boulevard » Blog Archive » Bear Naked — Tuesday, 23 May , 2006 @ 3:57 pm

2. Blue Crab Boulevard » Blog Archive » Brought To Justice — Tuesday, 27 June , 2006 @ 1:41 pm