Lately in the news we have seen the rise of people complaining about animals being shot. From a Lion in an African country that MOST people couldn’t find on a map let alone pronounce it properly, to the bears being shot here in our own backyard.

A short while ago, an American Dentist, shot and killed “Cecil” the lion. He is now in hiding, afraid for his life and the extradition to said African country. A lot of people are upset that he shot and killed a Lion. That in itself is NOT illegal, and shouldn’t be. The illegal act is that he shot and killed, after luring away from a game preserve, a lion that JUST happened to have a Name, and Collar because he was being studied. Otherwise, just another lion, and I could really care less about it. I care about gang violence and child hunger here in MY country. I care about the education and health care problems in MY Country and MY Province. IF he has broken any local laws then it is up to that country to iniate prosecution and extradition. He does not appear to be a poacher, he does not appear to be a murderer, or rapist or human trafficker. Why is he suddenly being shunned and treated like one?

Onto our local bear problem. According to GSPS they have received over 700 bear calls this year. A huge increase from last year. Just in the last day they have had to shoot 3 bears, including a Mother and her Cub. The taking of an animal’s life, if not for food to eat, is always controversial. And the animal must present a clear danger, and must be killed in a humane way and not made to suffer. It is tragic that a cub had to be killed. I am sure that the officers that did it were not happy about it. But after killing its mother, it was the human thing to do. The cub would have starved to death.

We cannot allow bears weighing several hundred pounds to continuously approach our homes, enter our homes and look at us longingly though the back door. Bears are predators, like us they are omnivores, and they prefer blue and other berries to eat. However, given an opportunity to eat something else, like meat, they will. People have said that they remember growing up and not having a bear problem that people left them alone. FYI the bears were still here, they just didn’t bug us, because there was sufficient food for the population. Now, with the removal of the Spring Bear hunt, their population has increased, and with two bad years for food, competition is stiff and they are extra hungry. Extra hungry animals get bold and aggressive, bold and aggressive animals must be put down. The safety of us Humans and our property is a priority. Not the bears. Yes, we must live WITH them, no we should not go around and kill all the bears, and we SHOULD NOT be leaving our garbages out for them to forge on. But when the bear starts knocking on my back door and threatening my property and my children and MY animals then it’s time for that bear to become a rug.

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