Charlie and his bears

[Nanuq]

Here's some footage up at Charlie's cabin with his bears.

[Agrippa]

There was a great piece on BBC just recently about Lynn Rogers and "his" bears, entitled "Bearwalker of the Northwoods". Very highly recommended viewing.

[Demsey]

Entertaining. I'd like to see the whole program.

I'll just say I'm heartened that this gentleman, unlike Timothy 'tater tot' Treadwell, seems to have more 'respect' for these animals than 'brotherly love'. He uses terms like "powerful beasts", and "scary" and phrases like ".....he could snap my neck in one swat" and not; "my best friends", "soul creatures" and ".....we count on one another".

Still, from what Bob relayed and I've gathered, Treadwell's undoing was a lack of biological understanding of the 'change' in instincts that a bear goes through in it's life time. What was a 'friend' a decade ago is a 'meal' ultimately, when an animal loses it's heirarchy in the group and physiological prowess to hunt to sustain itself; enter the 'tater tot' and his girlfriend. I don't see how 'Charlie' is aside any of that scenerio or others. The only difference is; when and if a bear should turn on him, he will instantly know why from a natural scientist's POV, and yet that understanding or hitting the bear with a frying pan, or 'playing dead' is going to be useless.

Good luck. Whatever happened to 'dogs', 'cats' or a nice bowl of 'goldfish' ?

ps There was a lead link from YouTube that was supposedly the coroner's evidence audio portion (which in itself does indeed exist as factual evidence) from an errantly triggered video camera at Treadwell's last moments. It seemed legit, but I don't have enough infos to make the call. If it were a hoax it was well executed, and even if it was, the likelyhood of how it would all unfold in reality is <bone chilling>.

Instead of it being sequestered, I think that tape should be available at all State funded points of entry to 'Bear Country' to all those parties interested. The sound of a man's head popping in the jaws of a Kodiak bear would be a dandy deterrent to the would be "Honey, I'm going to get a little closer for a pic, gimme that dinner roll..........." vacationing Jack London wannabe.

Not so much for the sake of the human, but even a slightest show of real agression from a wild bear to a human, even a stooooooopid one, sets the wheels in motion. That animal will be hunted and destroyed by authorities as if it terrorized and slaughtered an entire town. That's where most game wardens and park rangers' I've spoken to (few) concerns really lie. In that vein I really can't support Mr. 'Charlie' here. He may know what he is doing and getting into, but it's no fair to the bears. Just another selfish human, being 'human'. Honestly, take up dog sledding and buy a team if you're that lonely.

I always felt bad for the horses in those 'Cowboy and Indian' pictures too. Then the 'indians'.........

[Nanuq]

All good points, Dems. And your perspective is shared by about half the people here... the other half vote laissez faire and want to leave him alone. And he's so stinking remote, he could if people would stay away. Hmmmmmmm... culpability raises its ugly head.

Two summers ago we had a mama bear With Attitude about a mile from my back door, and a couple people got pretty badly chewed. DNA showed that mama bear was responsible, but it was the weirdest summer, a LOT of people got chased and woofed and treed, and the public outcry was enormous to GET THAT BEAR. What they didn't know was at least 3 bears were involved. The one mama bear was just doing her job, protecting her cubs, teaching them self defense. In the end she was shot and the cubs went to a zoo. She wasn't at fault... we were in her backyard. She wasn't habituated with food, she just had a massive chip on her shoulder.

Right now all the bears are in hyperphagia and grumpy as heck. So do we shoot them when we get woofed, or do we just stay the heck out of the woods for a couple more weeks till they bed down?

I had a big old bear right outside my window last Friday, a foot away, and he woofed me real big because he thought I was a threat. I was just looking out in the dark to see what was making all the racket. Did I need to shoot him? Naaaahhhhhhh. He left eventually.

That's how I vote. R-E-S-P-E-C-T and it goes both ways.

[Demsey]

Oh, don't get me wrong, I don't think any bear should be destroyed on account of it just being 'a bear' no matter what the outcome, save rogue; an individual exhibiting a chance and usually inferior biological variation and is hell bent on going out of it's way to maul humans. Neither did any of the wardens I talked to. That was their talking point (paraphrased); "It's stupid and I hate it, but please be aware; if a bear harrasses you in my park I will have to destroy it. It's a politically motivated point of law I uphold. Please don't go out of your way to make me do that. Follow these guide lines and we can all just go about our business, you, me, the bear." Is what 'tater tot' didn't do, and he was warned, again and again. Those bear were destroyed after the fact and it were Treadwell's fault. And if someone came across 'Charlie' 's bleached bones come Spring? Probably no harm no foul as the culprits would have been long gone. But if one of his bear mauled one of the film crew or a nosey flatlander? It could very well have been destroyed. I'm not sure how the law reads with regard to 'maulings on private property', but if public outcry and the estate of the victim(s) pushed the issue to euthanasia it would have been 100% 'Charlie' 's fault. His responsibility. The bears are there for treats, they know not the ramifications of simply 'being a bear with extenuating circumstances rendered by humans..........' That's the 'unfair to bear' part. Not getting mauled by bear is easy. It's called Disney World. You pays your money, you walk out into the wilderness, you takes your chances. I don't see how a 'bear being a bear' even enters into it.

Anyway, you know how I feel ultimately;

And that includes hungry Ursidae.

Which brings up another point. How reliant on 'Charlie' are these animals? He's no Spring chicken. What's the contingency plan if he kicks the bucket? Are those bear going on down to Jellystone Park looking for a pic-a-nic basket? And a high grain load?