Yet Another Lesson To Be Learned

Hmmm.

For once I don't have much to say!

The weekend was hot... that's all there was to it. By the time the heat went down we were too drained to really do anything. As we sat on the deck though on Saturday the news feed came through about bear attack just on the other side of town from where I live. A 10 year old girl was dragged off by a bear.

Bystanders saw it happen and rushed in to save her. She was in Critical condition, now Serious but Stable condition and despite also people blaming humans for leaving...what did they call it...bear attractants they said that it was a case of the wrong place and wrong time. I feel for that child and I feel for the bear. A Mama bear and its cub that is now left motherless because the bear had to be killed and at the same time a father almost left without a child because of that bear. What I'm about to say next will seem so wrong to some in their outrage at the gall of the BEAR...oy.

In the face of what happened...where we live, especially on the North Side of Port Coquitlam...there...are...bears... this is not new and now it's even being rumoured that the father had been warned about the bear before he took his walk with his daughter. If that's true then the guilt he must be feeling is tremendous.

In Alberta they are to the point of killing wolves for the same thing, looking for human food and if you know me then you know how I feel about wolves.

My own daughter B has been cornered twice by a bear, thank goodness it didn't have cubs. Once she even had to call the police and fire dept. at 11 or 12 yrs old because they couldn't get past it, but that time the bear didn't care about them, just sat there, eating leaves or berries. All I remember is her coming home in a patrol car and I thought she was in trouble. Walking into my own fenced back yard one night, B tried to call me and warn me that a bear was eating the pears off of our tree, it never bugged the neighbours dog that was tied outside barking at it. I never got the message and it was dumb luck that I came through the back and he was gone but, he came back and Sese was stuck in her boss's truck for about 20 mins or so until it went away.

I know it's awful and that little girl will be scarred for life in more ways than one and in a place where their habitat has been stripped away piece by piece people need to be even more careful. Between the bears and the coyotes protection is a must. My only other question is that in a place where young kids use bear spray on other kids in fights because as far as I'm concerned they're dumbasses is why aren't people in our area more protected?  Or any area where bears are frequent. We live next to a river that if you follow the trail leads up a mountain to Crystal Falls. Then you have the city about to charge fines if...

 Infractions include leaving out garbage bins outside of designated hours and failing to pick up fruit that has fallen from trees or bushes on properties.

or 

bylaw officers will also hand out fines if the fruit is still attached to the plant but is ripe enough to pick.

and

The city says it has handed out nearly 60 fines worth $500 each this year to residents who have left out 'bear attractants.'

Yes making sure you're safe is the most important but how do you repel  something that is essentially just hungry and in that bears state of mind it was hungry AND protecting it's cub? It's a mixed bag and this came up when we were talking about all of the animals and insects that we don't see anymore that used to be prominent here (Grasshoppers, Catapillers, Deer...) and the ones we never used to see but see a lot of now (Squirrels I do not remember seeing so many squirrels growing up then again they had more trees and distance to live in).

Either way there was ALWAYS the bears...and the raccoons...and the skunks. Everything is forever expanding and for now anyway the bears will still be there.

2 Black bears shot in PoCo and 4 between PoCo, Port Moody and Coquitlam, a Conservation Officer was transferred because he refused to shoot a bear cub and all because they're hungry and have no place. Now I'm not saying feed the bears that would be stupid. Take precautions though and be educated about where they've been seen and where they frequent and as I've just been reminded, if you're a woman it's probably best if you don't go for a stroll on the trails or in the woods if it's that time of the month.

You Miss will be asking for trouble and not just from bears.

Well so much for not having much to say today and different for me. I was going to take out that first sentence but I rarely remove anything I've already typed. 

Another quirk.

Ok guys have a great week!

See Ya 

S