Friday, July 08, 2011

Grizzly roams free after fatal Yellowstone mauling

The female grizzly bear that attacked and killed a hiker when apparently startled with two cubs will be allowed to continue roaming free in Yellowstone National Park after officials determined the animal had acted to protect its young. A probe of Wednesday's fatal bear mauling, the first in Yellowstone since 1986, suggests the mother grizzly was provoked by a perceived threat from the hiker and his wife when they encountered the animal and its cubs foraging for food. "The bear's behavior is consistent with a bear who was in a defensive posture," Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk said during a news conference at park headquarters in Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyoming. "We did not see anything predatory in terms of the bear's actions."...more

Let's say the man and woman were armed and had protected themselves by shooting the bear. Would the fed's have found the humans were in a "defensive posture" and that it was a justifiable shoot? Would they release the humans with their weapons to "roam free" in Yellowstone? Just asking.

4 comments:

J.R. ABSHER said...

I find it particularly troublesome that the superintendent uses the pronoun "who" when referring to an animal.

Anonymous said...

suppose a complete stranger of the sort had killed several of your family members in the past barged into your house while you were having dinner with your children. Would you feel threatened and kill the intruder? I think so

Anonymous said...

Killing a bear in defense of human life is specifically authorized by law. This was a tragedy that may have been avoided if the people had carried bear spray, which the park service recommends. Why do you use a person's death to make some snarky political point?

Anonymous said...

Let reason on the spray issue. The average weight of an adult grizzly is probably around 600 lbs. If it runs into you headlong what chance do you have to use the spray? It seems like folks think the grizzly is going to stop (within the range of the spray) and let you take a shot.
I would like to see how many grizzly charges have been stopped with bear spray. Then I would like to see how many have been stopped by a bullet.
I agree that the Park Service and the FWLS would all press changes on someone shooting a bear in self defense.