tigerbeetle
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From my NJ blog ... jaymanntoday - Daily Fishing and Outdoor Report
BEARISH ON BEAR ATTACK: I’ve gotten a bevy of emails regarding the fatal black bear attack on a male Rutgers student. It took place in the people-popular, 576-acre Apshawa Preserve, Passaic County. It is owned and managed by the New Jersey Conservation Foundation.
I took it kinda personal-like because I had helped with the state’s reintroduction of black bears back into their natural NJ habitat.
Right about now, I’m not sure where to go. Bad bear? Bad state of NJ? Bad student for running? Bad nature – for, well, whatever you did wrong in this case?
Face it; it’s all-bad in this ugly instance.
I feel fully horrible for the student and his family. Be it a bear, shark, wolf/coyote, tiger/lion or hippo (deadliest of all animal attacks) attack, that’s no way to go. If life only had a reverse button, this is one of those times everyone would be hitting it.
I also feel a good-deal bad for the now-dead bear, euthanized for its untimely aggression. I guess it learned its lesson, though I’m not sure that word has gotten out to other bears. By the by, the bear was later located very close to its victim. That mightsuggest its outrage was a territorial outburst.
I even feel a bit bad for our state, which has tried its hardest to bring some of the state’s original (driven out) denizens back into what remains of its wooded fold. Nationwide, there’s a huge pitch to bring back extirpated species. We know all too well that most of the planet is dedicated to repopulating the great white sharks. And, yes, there’s something of a connection twixt black bears and apex sharks here.
I definitely feel bad for all bears, far and wide, who’ll take a PR hit from this bizarre, out-of-the-blue attack. I’ll bet anything that the number of Garden State hunters seeking a black bear permit will now go through the Fish and Game roof. Revenge often seeks the highest-profile bull’s-eyes. I guess I could get insanely political here and bring up ISIS targets, out of the blue.
Now, I’ll likely get branded as bad to the bone for criticizing the way we humans invariable go batty over animals that attack but then somehow go relatively placid over the likes of unnaturally drunken drivers killing hundreds of people yearly – and, for their deadly out-of-the-blue crimes, they’ll get maybe a few years in jail, tops. No euthanasia. You have to agree there’s an odd disconnect there somewhere.
I’ll also likely qualify as an awful person for defending wildlife at an indelicate moment like this – while not wavering a bit from feeling terrible for the victim and his family. Hey, I’m a double-prime candidate for taking a ferocious, in-woods animal attack. I’m out there and afoot more than your average bear, so to speak. Protection? I pretty much wield tree-climbing skills. In the case of a bear rush, that’s about as effective as yelling, “Sit! Bad bear! Don’t you move so much as another claw, mister!”
To this day, many folks believe they can defiantly escape a bear attack by simply scurrying up a tree, with a snidely, “Ha-ha, Yogi! … Oh. Hi there. I’m sorry; I didn’t realize this was your tree. I’ll just be sliding down now. Uh, excuse me, can you maybe give me just the littlest bit of room to get by?”
I’ll add a further touch of outdoors reality here by duly bringing up the huge number of deer/buck attacks on humans. Hunters and even hikers have been grievously put upon by fired up deer in rut, far more frequently than they’ve been put upon by bears. Hell, I was once treed by a gonzo buck. It was no larger than a ten-pointer. The nutso thing drove me up a minimal pine tree, which leaned dangerously sideways toward the ground. The deer then planted itself nearby – huffin’ and hoovin’ the ground. It wasn’t until the sweet smell of the ladies finally drew him away that I hurriedly dropped down and ran like a booted gazelle back to my truck. Had anyone along the way asked me what was wrong, I would have given the far-from-manly answer, “There’s a frickin’ deer tryin’ to kill me. … Go ahead and snicker, ladies. That bugger is still out there somewhere.”
As to the trickledown effect from this rare bear attack, I can’t help but fear there will be a natural, albeit unnatural, initial overreaction. We might see an increase in the number of bears allowed to be taken in the state’s upcoming black bear hunt, during which even good bears will pay for the lone transgressor. Hopefully, the state’s long-term response will be tamer.
BEARISH ON BEAR ATTACK: I’ve gotten a bevy of emails regarding the fatal black bear attack on a male Rutgers student. It took place in the people-popular, 576-acre Apshawa Preserve, Passaic County. It is owned and managed by the New Jersey Conservation Foundation.
I took it kinda personal-like because I had helped with the state’s reintroduction of black bears back into their natural NJ habitat.
Right about now, I’m not sure where to go. Bad bear? Bad state of NJ? Bad student for running? Bad nature – for, well, whatever you did wrong in this case?
Face it; it’s all-bad in this ugly instance.
I feel fully horrible for the student and his family. Be it a bear, shark, wolf/coyote, tiger/lion or hippo (deadliest of all animal attacks) attack, that’s no way to go. If life only had a reverse button, this is one of those times everyone would be hitting it.
I also feel a good-deal bad for the now-dead bear, euthanized for its untimely aggression. I guess it learned its lesson, though I’m not sure that word has gotten out to other bears. By the by, the bear was later located very close to its victim. That mightsuggest its outrage was a territorial outburst.
I even feel a bit bad for our state, which has tried its hardest to bring some of the state’s original (driven out) denizens back into what remains of its wooded fold. Nationwide, there’s a huge pitch to bring back extirpated species. We know all too well that most of the planet is dedicated to repopulating the great white sharks. And, yes, there’s something of a connection twixt black bears and apex sharks here.
I definitely feel bad for all bears, far and wide, who’ll take a PR hit from this bizarre, out-of-the-blue attack. I’ll bet anything that the number of Garden State hunters seeking a black bear permit will now go through the Fish and Game roof. Revenge often seeks the highest-profile bull’s-eyes. I guess I could get insanely political here and bring up ISIS targets, out of the blue.
Now, I’ll likely get branded as bad to the bone for criticizing the way we humans invariable go batty over animals that attack but then somehow go relatively placid over the likes of unnaturally drunken drivers killing hundreds of people yearly – and, for their deadly out-of-the-blue crimes, they’ll get maybe a few years in jail, tops. No euthanasia. You have to agree there’s an odd disconnect there somewhere.
I’ll also likely qualify as an awful person for defending wildlife at an indelicate moment like this – while not wavering a bit from feeling terrible for the victim and his family. Hey, I’m a double-prime candidate for taking a ferocious, in-woods animal attack. I’m out there and afoot more than your average bear, so to speak. Protection? I pretty much wield tree-climbing skills. In the case of a bear rush, that’s about as effective as yelling, “Sit! Bad bear! Don’t you move so much as another claw, mister!”
To this day, many folks believe they can defiantly escape a bear attack by simply scurrying up a tree, with a snidely, “Ha-ha, Yogi! … Oh. Hi there. I’m sorry; I didn’t realize this was your tree. I’ll just be sliding down now. Uh, excuse me, can you maybe give me just the littlest bit of room to get by?”
I’ll add a further touch of outdoors reality here by duly bringing up the huge number of deer/buck attacks on humans. Hunters and even hikers have been grievously put upon by fired up deer in rut, far more frequently than they’ve been put upon by bears. Hell, I was once treed by a gonzo buck. It was no larger than a ten-pointer. The nutso thing drove me up a minimal pine tree, which leaned dangerously sideways toward the ground. The deer then planted itself nearby – huffin’ and hoovin’ the ground. It wasn’t until the sweet smell of the ladies finally drew him away that I hurriedly dropped down and ran like a booted gazelle back to my truck. Had anyone along the way asked me what was wrong, I would have given the far-from-manly answer, “There’s a frickin’ deer tryin’ to kill me. … Go ahead and snicker, ladies. That bugger is still out there somewhere.”
As to the trickledown effect from this rare bear attack, I can’t help but fear there will be a natural, albeit unnatural, initial overreaction. We might see an increase in the number of bears allowed to be taken in the state’s upcoming black bear hunt, during which even good bears will pay for the lone transgressor. Hopefully, the state’s long-term response will be tamer.
