Mont. Officials await test results in bear attack.

Mont. Officials await test results in bear attack.

www.msnbc.msn.com...

COOKE CITY, Mont. (AP) - Wildlife officials expected DNA test results to confirm Friday that a captured grizzly bear and her three cubs were the animals that killed one camper and injured two others in a rampage that has set tourists in this Yellowstone National Park gateway community on edge.

Fibers from a tent or sleeping bag were in the captured bears' droppings, and a tooth fragment found in a tent appears to match a chipped tooth on the 300- to 400-pound sow.

But officials say they will decide the bears' fate only after the test results are in. "Everything points to it being the offending bear, but we are not going to do anything until we have DNA samples," said Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokesman Ron Aasheim.

When did bears become so human as to understand where and when they're allowed to hunt? A bunch of campers mauled, one even killed while camping in an area known for its grizzly population: a tragedy, but DNA testing and a manhunt(bearhunt?) for the offending ursine?

Officials have said the sow will be killed if DNA evidence confirms that it attacked the victims early Wednesday at the Soda Butte Campground, five miles from the entrance to Yellowstone. State and federal wildlife officials will decide what happens to the cubs, which are feared to have learned predatory behavior from their mother.

Great, death penalty for doing what comes naturally to them.

We like to pretend wildlife preserves are good natural habitats and we're co-existing, but god forbid the animals leave the designated area and remind us they're not in a zoo. You can't punish a bear that's left the park if there were no signs saying "No Bears Beyond This Point" written in bear.



[edit on 7/30/2010 by eNumbra]

Sorry for the people and the bears...

Last time I was in Yellowstone,came around a curve in the road and stopped because a car was 1/2 way on shoulder/1/2 way on road...stupid place to stop for starters!

Woman @ 70 was making her way down a rather steep embankment with camera I assumed to photograph the BUFFALO that was standing down in a clearing.Up close and personal I guess and beyond STUPID!

I couldn't believe my eyes but didn't want to alarm either so I drove on to the gasstation/ranger stand that I could see was nearby and told them what I had seen.

They sped off and the rangers were actually swearing and snapping because of the STUPID things people sometimes do when in wildlife habitats that get them killed...not saying this is the case with the bear-incident but I experienced a similar "situation" in Glacier Park when people were standing in the road at dusk with COOKIES at hand should they see a bear!

People must be VERY aware and abide by rules when camping with creatures that can kill nearby for sure and sometimes,they just are not.




[edit on 30-7-2010 by irishchic]

Thats horrible... Bears need food to eat just like we do. Feed the bears more stupid campers I say. If your camping in bear country you should be responsible for being bear dinner. Save the bear and her cubs... If they kill the cubs that's the worst to me and then killing the mother and leaving the orphans that is just cruel.

Ha, thats cause we live in a society where everything that goes bad must have someone to "blame" and to punish accordingly. In this circumstance its the bear apparently, for being bearlike. Only corporations are allowed to harm and destroy lives with impunity.

Two cubs were captured Thursday. But a third remained at large and officials said it could not be allowed to stay in the wild. The cub could be heard nearby through much of the day Thursday, calling out to its mother and eliciting heavy groans from the sow, which was captured first and then left in its trap to attract the offspring.

How bizarre... I am absolutely appalled at how these officials are "protecting" our national wildlife reserves.

The only reason they want to kill the cubs is because they "have learned predatory instincts from their mother". THEY ARE BEARS, THAT'S WHAT THEY DO! Acting on predatory instincts is what predators are supposed to do!

Well with all the adtives and genetically modified foods the humans eat the bear is probably dead from cancer already.
But it does make me wonder what we taste like to a bear?
probly taste like pizza coke .
alest teh bear will get pleasantly fat for the winter but its cloistral levels will go through the roof .
lets see almost 7 billion humans and maybe 10 or 15 k bears Id say whats one less human? lolo.
ps wile I would miss my child or friend or wife or my self (If one of us was ate by a animal . I dont need or want revenge on a animal as it is doing what a animal is ment to do .
But if I ever do get ate by a animal i do hope it uses Tabasco sauce I just love Tabasco sauce. and just a pinch of lemon

hahaha, xcaliber, stop drinking before you come post on the forums! JK, i do that too.