The latest story of the continuing Disneyfication of wildlife comes from, appropriately, Orlando, Florida. Residents in a new subdivision called police after a couple of black bears started wandering around the area, tipping over garbage cans to find food. The ensuing ruckus, complete with subdivision residents ignoring pleas from police and snapping pictures, ended in the bear dying. Police believe the bears were attracted to the area by someone who just "loved" the bears so much that they fed the bears. As one Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission official noted: "A fed bear is a dead bear."
Lights, sirens and a loudspeaker didn't scare the bear out of the neighborhood. Neither did the police officer drawing a shotgun. Or all the other people snapping pictures, screaming, even shoving a chair at the animal.
Then the year-old male bear, the animal kingdom's equivalent of an unruly teenager, made its fatal mistake. It headed for the Orlando police officer, who responded by pulling out a Taser.
After it was stunned twice and snagged with nooses generally used to trap much smaller animals, the bear that had unnerved residents collapsed Tuesday night and died.
It's not clear exactly what caused the black bear's death. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials think the bear, which had struggled with police officers once it was noosed, might have strangled. They don't know whether they'll order a necropsy on the animal, which appeared to weigh less than 100 pounds.
"It's just a bummer all the way around for us," police Sgt. Barbara Jones said Wednesday.
It's a twist on the old, sad story of a bear running into trouble after getting too friendly or aggressive with people.
Area residents are upset. The anonymous complainer doesn't acknowledge that some of the people in the subdivision were almost certainly the cause of the bear's demise.
"From my vantage point, I didn't see where it was an immediate need to Taser the bear," an anonymous neighbor said.
"I believe (sheriff's deputies) were out to protect the people and I think they were out to protect the bear also," Rodriguez said. "The bear didn't want to have anything to do with it."
"They did everything that I asked them to, which was to blow their horns, do their sirens and get the bear to go off in the woods," Orlando said. "Unfortunately the bear did not cooperate."
Authorities said many of the neighbors leave their trash cans out at night before a pickup which essentially trained the bear to feed in the area.
Officials also said some of the neighbors may have put out food for the bear before it was killed Wednesday.
Listen up, people. Bears are not warm, fuzzy, happy playthings for you to cuddle up to and "love". They do not obey the laws of Disney, they obey the laws of nature. And if they become habituated to humans because of your actions, they will have to be killed. You will have killed the animal you profess to "love". Leave the damn wildlife alone if you love them. Don't feed them, don't touch them, don't encourage bad behavior by leaving garbage out overnight. A fed bear is a dead bear. Every. Single. Time.
I’d be hesitant to use a Taser on a bear; I suspect that Tasers were not tested on bears (due to PETA considerations, possibly, but more likely to the possibility of making the bear Very Angry.) I wouldn’t want to make a bear any kind of angry.