The bear is dead.
Stephen Colbert might be happy (http://wikiality.wikia.com/Bears) but my guess is many of our readers will be disheartened to hear a bear frequenting
MacDonald Road is dead.
The young female bear – rumoured to have cubs – was caught in a live trap
The live trapping strikes me as slightly shady, given that DNR ended up
putting it down – as if the optics of catching it alive would fool people
into thinking the story would have a happy ending. It’s probably just safer and more humane than using live ammo in the field, but still…
It’s easy to weekend quarterback these things, and a bear that’s made a
residential area its home terrain does pose a risk to residents.
Somehow, though, the outcome just doesn’t seem right.
I live in the county and we have bears. I’ve seen two this summer, one of
them maybe a hundred yards from my property line. It was in a neighbour’s
backyard and she had a cub with her. Another time I was out for a walk with
my daughter, we came over a hill and there was a bear with two cubs ahead on
the road. Our compost container regularly gets tossed – either strong
raccoons or bears. And the previous owner of our house said he once found a
bear on the front lawn.
Having bears close by is more dangerous than not. But I wouldn’t have it any
other way. Every time I see a bear it’s wonderful. I love that I live in a
place where wildlife also lives.
Would I feel the same way if the same bear kept coming back to my property,
in broad daylight? Maybe not. It’s just that it seems fundamentally unfair:
we build suburban-style developments on what is fundamentally rural land,
then park green bins full of smelly food at the end of our driveways, and
then when a bear shows up, we kill it.
I’m not saying it’s anyone’s fault. I am saying we need to take the time and
energy, and pay the expense, to come up with a better way of dealing with
the problem.
