By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON May 19, 2012 You’re sometimes damned if you do and double damned if you don’t.
There was a black bear the police had to shoot in the woods around Mountainside Park . They did exactly what they were supposed to do. Can you imagine the public outrage if that animal had gotten anywhere near one of the schools or, heaven forbid, anywhere near a child. The lawsuits would have been something they would have to deal with later as well.
The comments and news stories on the decision the police made to shoot the bear are hard to understand. This was a wild and very dangerous animal that was an immediate threat to the people in the area.
The police fired four bullets into the chest of the animal and it died almost instantly. Yes there would have been an initial burst of pain and that is regrettable. That the police fired the four shots quickly and that the aim was true in each instance is a reflection on their training and discipline.
Regretable, unfortunate - but killing the bear was the only option the police had. Public safety was the prime concern.
To have the police now defending the decision they made is close to incredulous. Senior people within the police service are now spending their time explaining what they did minute by minute and you can bet the issue will be raised at the Police Services Board as well. Hopefully someone on that Board will make a point of publicly thanking the police for the action they took and maybe someone will make a comment on behalf of the police.
The bear could not be tranquilized for several reasons. First, the police did not have the equipment nor any personnel to tranquilize the bear. Second, in order to tranquilize the animal it would first have to be up in a tree. That would have meant having the police somehow badger, chase or scare the animal and get it to climb up a tree. An extremely dangerous thing to attempt – the bear could have just as easily panicked and bolted off much faster than the police could ever move.
What if while frightened the animal had bolted further away? It got to within 30 feet of a residential dwelling as it was. Imagine if there had been a child in the yard or on the porch of that residence – that bear could have been on that child in seconds.
If there is anyone to criticize it is the Ministry of Natural Resources for basically abandoning the Halton Police. They did nothing for the police other than to ask for a DNA sample and some hair from the bear. You can bet there will be some questions asked about the way that Ministry failed to respond.
The police did their job; they did it quickly and efficiently. Involving the aboriginal community in the burial of the animal was a wise and sensitive mood on the part of the police and Burlington’s Animal Control people.
A point to keep in mind – there were two bear sighting in the Milton area earlier in the week. The wild animal experts don’t think the bear shot in Burlington is the same bear sighted in Milton. The Regional police aren’t certain the two bear sightings were of the same animal – so we “might” have two bears some distance from us wandering around the countryside.
Should one of those bears venture into parts of the city where people live, work and play – the police should, if they are unable to get help and support from the Ministry of Natural, do exactly what they did on Wednesday.
What we would like to have heard was a statement from our local MPP Jane McKenna, saying she will inquire as to why the Ministry of Natural Resources was unable to help. That she apprently didn’t do so, is disapointing.
This was a most unfortunate incident. I agree that the police, in the name of public safety, had to act quickly. That a bear had strayed so far into a human area at Mountainside Park is somewhat incredulous, but there it is. I agree with the previous poster that a black bear is unlikely to ‘attack’ or ‘maul/maim’ a human unless profoundly provoked.
That said, it is SPRING. Male bear are aggressively looking for mates & will ‘wander’ far from familiar territory to find females. Breeding occurs late May, early June.
It is somewhat surprising that a veterinarian in the area was not called in to ‘assist’ with sedation in this instance, as they are often called upon to put down aged farm animals, like cows or horses. Thus, it seems that the issue here is one of proximity to a LARGE wild animal.
Vets don’t SHOOT drugs into dying domestic animals. They administer an injection. Getting close enough to a wild animal to do this would involve a ‘snare’ of some kind. A 300-400 pound wild bear is not going to to ‘co-operate’, and therein lies the problem. One good swipe, from a bear claw, let alone a ferocious & fighting biting bear, could seriously injury anyone or two.
The police did what they had to do under this most unusual circumstances. I was pleased to later learn that a representative from the Six Nations was able to take the carcass.
Are you mistaking the black bear for a grizzly bear? Black bears are not all that dangerous contrary to popular belief. Grizzly bears will hunt down and attack people – for black bears to do that is extremely rare. The black bears are coming more south – they have no choice – they need food. Perhaps police could better train and prepare for their arrival. The answer is not to kill them!