Seems more like torture to me...I guess they [WDFW] know what they are doing...maybe.komotv.com wrote:NEWCASTLE -- A black bear and her cubs have been taught a tough lesson after lurking too close to the homes in one neighborhood.
Resident Michal Bialoszewski called the state Department of Fish and Wildlife after seeing the bears come back to his neighborhood time after time.
State officials set up traps to catch the mother bear, using donuts and raw meat as bait. But on Saturday morning, a cub stumbled in.
"At that point, it was yelling super loud. My mom came out, looked, and I guess the mama bear was up on top of the cage," Bialoszewski said.
Neighbors said the mother bear went berserk upon seeing her baby trapped. But when she spotted a person she ran off, breaking a fence in the process.
"I mean, this fence used to be nice and straight. Now, as you can see, it's all bent all over the place," Bialoszewski said.
The broken fence is only the latest addition to the trail of damage the bears have left behind.
About a month ago, they tried to take a chunk out of Bialoszewski's car.
"It was more like teeth marks, like punctures," Bialoszewski said.
Wildlife officials tranquilized the captured cub and hauled the youngster to a nearby cage. Using the cub as bait, they set another trap in hopes of catching the mother.
Several hours later, the mother came back for the cub and took the bait. By late Saturday night, her second cub was also caught.
Before they were released into the wild, wildlife officials taught them an important lesson. The plan was to scare the bears back into the wild, hopefully for good.
"Then we start hitting them with bean bags and rubber bullets. The dog will still be barking," said Bruce Richard with the Department of Fish and Wildlife. "So this is a fairly traumatic deal, hopefully enough where they are going to learn."
Richards said the lesson is especially important for the cubs.
"I'm not so much concerned about the bear as (I am about) coming in and teaching the cubs some bad stuff," he said.
After each of the bears was weighed and tagged to be tracked later, the family was released near the mountains on Sunday. They'll end up far away from Bialoszewski's home and deep in the mountains, where they'll have to make a new home for themselves.
"If she finds a good place to hibernate, their chance is excellent," Richards said.
Bialoszewski said he had been complaining about the bears to wildlife officials for months.
But Richards said the bears aren't the only ones at fault. He said residents need to keep bears from having a reason to come so near the homes by taking certain measures, like handling trash properly.
"We're going to try to change behavior, and it isn't just going to be with the bear. It's going to be with people who live here," Richards said.
If I were to do that...I would most assuredly be brought up on criminal charges...or at least PETA would be be protesting outside my home. I think I'll try that next time the neighbor's dog takes a dookie in my yard...put him in a cage...beat the hell out of it with a baseball bat, and claim I am just teaching it a tough lesson in who's yard it can pooh in. Yeah, right...
I also think...since the "bears aren't the only ones at fault" the Bialoszewski's should be put in their car and hit with beanbags and rubber bullets, while the trash man is yelling at them to put their trash away where wild animals can't get to it. [-x
Chad
You are further confusing an already confused old man:scratch: