About 2 or 3 years ago I was dumpster diving at Democratic Underground when I came upon a thread about cops shooting some guy who had a gun.\u00a0 One DUmmy wanted to know why the cops didn’t just shoot the gun out of the guys hand.\u00a0 I must have laughed about DUmmy marksmanship for months.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Well, seems they have now infiltrated Maine.\u00a0 Short story:<\/a>\u00a0 150 lbs Bear wanders into a populated area, across a golf course, 911 calls flood in.\u00a0 So the game warden shows up and shoots the bear.\u00a0 Carcas is given to some Indian Tribe.\u00a0 Story over.<\/p>\n \u00a0Nope, everyone is second guessing the game warden.<\/p>\n <\/a>Evan of Bangor, ME (07\/20\/08) Evan for Game Warden.\u00a0 Bears will never steal pic-i-nic baskets again, because he will reason with them!<\/p>\n <\/a>Randy of Bangor, ME (07\/20\/08) Maine is fuggin gigantic if you haven’t been there, and there ain’t all that many folk there.\u00a0 It has a population of 41.3\/sq\u00a0mi.\u00a0 By way of comparison, South Carolina has 143.4\/sq\u00a0mi.\u00a0 I think the bears have plenty of places they could call home, Bangor not being one of them.<\/p>\n Randy of Bangor, ME (07\/20\/08) Randy, when was the last time someone went into a store to ask directions and thn mauled the clerk?\u00a0\u00a0Go watch that bear dude get eaten and you may see a difference between a bear and a girl in a\u00a0sun-dress who missed the exit for Portland.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kathy of Tilden, TX (07\/21\/08) Kathy, please stay in Texas.<\/p>\n
\nThis is nothing short of an absolute disgrace- even if the bear was getting agitated, the Warden could have EASILY kept his shotgun trained on the animal or asked police to do the same until tranquilizers were obtained, and if he was at least half-fit for his job the Warden should have had darts readily available anyway given he’d been called out to check on a wandering bear. This kind of easily-avoided killing of one of the rarest forms of wildlife we are lucky enough to have residing in Maine is just dumb and tragic.<\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nAmazing, lethal force is used first before we even attempt a tranquilizer dart. Animals including bears are forced out of their natural homes for many reasons, they end up in places they are not known to be such as the city. But when a wild animal is spotted it seems nowadays the tranquillizer is no longer in option when all it seemed to be doing was wandering around. Yes the bear was wandering around because it was lost, hungry, etc. This must be why the State or govt’s discourage keeping wild animals as pets…if they got loose or lost they just shoot em! That is pretty disappointing and rather pathetic. If that bear was mulling someone, or threatening people, perhaps just like a Police Officer should do with people, but with animals…it’s a whole different thing. <\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nTo the people criticizing us for criticizing the game warden: If you are lost, confused, looking to get back home and you stop at the gas station and ask for directions does the clerk shoot you? When someone sees a wild animal the reaction is to shoot it. A woman supposedly has a snake in her wash machine, oh nobody would touch that, of course not but the animal could have been dangerous. If the article verified the bear was mulling people when the game warden arrived, yes there was justifcation to be shot. But because the bear was wandering around, lost because people like us invade their natural homes Wardens shoot them anyways. The Warden needs a better education (assuming the report is accurate as far as the bear was not hurting anyone) on how to do his job, and no I don’t need anyone to tell me how to do mine because we have ignorant people like this thinking they know how to do it anyways! <\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nAnother one of the Creator’s precious children killed because of the inconcenience she caused. But considering Maine law enforcement’s record with the state’s human inhabitants; the bear never had a chance.<\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n