BigGameHunt.net Hunting Forums

[Unit5A]

http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/08/.....index.html

Hard to imagine.

[bitmasher]

That's terrible! Completely opportunistic killers. The articles mentions that they are checking for rabies, but I can't imagine it being rabies if the animal ran away with the baby. Correct me if I'm wrong but rabid animals just go on a mean streak with little concern for getting food. Since this one came in, took the baby, then took off (dropped only after a chase), it doesn't sound rabid.... Sad...

[ChesterGolf]

With bear populations growing and habitat shrinking, this sort of tragedy may be more common in the future. Bears are getting more used to people and this is a problem.

[moderator]

Here are a couple other links on the attack:

http://www.msnbc.com/news/796417.asp?0si=-&cp1=1

Guardian.co.uk

Looks like rabies has been ruled out...

[ This Message was edited by: moderator on 2002-08-20 17:35 ]

[bitmasher]

Sounds like the bear had been around people for awhile, considering that it had "plastic bags and fruit labels" in its stomach.

[kgoody]

Hopefully, this was a wakeup call to people. I have to believe folks knew bears were in the area, why leave a child unattended? As far as the officer shooting the bear? Good job! nusience bears are forever a threat, and how many more attacks would follow??

[bitmasher]

Kgoody, haven't seen you around before, welcome to the board.

Since you are in NY, have you all had any other problems with bears like this?

Black bears have been wandering into various suburbs of Denver for the last couple months. It is real dry here (Colorado) though, and the bears are hitting the garbage, small animals, because there isn't near enough forage where it usually is.

[kgoody]

The state parks and surrounding areas are fairly plagued. I live 300 miles from where the attack took place. However, anually, I go bear hunting within 50 miles of the attack, and the locals say they have a diffacult time with the bears. The're always glad to see hunting season roll around!

[moderator]

Welcome to the board, kgoody!

I have read that black bear populations are really growing in the Eastern U.S. along with the white tail populations. Your statement only supports that arguement. Do you think the black bear population is too large in that area and needs to be brought down?

[ This Message was edited by: moderator on 2002-09-09 15:45 ]

[kgoody]

In my opinion, the bear population in the area, (adirondack mountains), is "at capacity" so as to speak, however due to the tens of thousands of acres in the state park, much of which is almost non passible due to the heavy cover, I dont forsee the population falling. As far as the whitetail population? New york is a hotspot, and the deer harvest has fallen anually, and the population is way out of control. There aren't the number of hunters that there used to be.

[moderator]

Well if the bear population is "at capacity" now, within a few years it will be over the top, if pressure is not put on the population now. Pressure being hunters or nature (drought, lack of food).

I hear you on the white tail and it is not just in NY. A few months ago we linked to this article calling for more hunters:

http://magazine.audubon.org/incite/incite0203.html

[maineguide]

I read some were it is usually the big males that do most of the attacks.
I also see a show on the Discovery channel about black bears attacking people, and they also said that the big males would do it.

[fire6469]

I agree with everything said here especially about the concern for the ever growing bear population. i live in pa and the population of bear and whitetails is rising year after year. I remember when there was no bear season in pa because there were hardly any bear. I have family in upstate Ny and I have personally seen quite a few large bear there. If a bear is a nuisance then it needs to be taken care of.

[bitmasher]

Yeah I have heard the same thing about black bears Maineguide. Although with brown bears it seems that usually when I hear about an attack it is a female. Usually there are cubs involved too. While I would never want to tangle with a bear, if I had a choice I would choose black bear. Those brown bears can get massive...

Yeah I hear you Fire6469. If the animal populations are growing beyond reason, the government needs to get more tags and hunters out there. Although, while it doesn't apply to this case, I do think too that people need to make sure that the game animals have enough habitat to be on their own a bit. This "co-existing" stuff never seems to work.

[fire6469]

That is true with a female bear with cubs. they will be aggressive if they feel that the cubs are in danger. However I think I would like to have a brown bear insteaed of a black bear only because a black bear will climb a tree and generally a brown bear will not.