Yes, you are absolutely right. The idea that bears come second and people first (even if bears and other indigenous wild animals have lived in these areas since the dinosaur age and are being systematically removed from their rightful place of domain) is ludicrous to say the least. Throw in the media hype that portrays them as vicious predators, waiting to pounce on your child, or eat your cat, and you’ve got an animal that doesn’t stand a chance. For us to coexist with wildlife we must learn from them. They haven’t invaded our homes, so why are we invading theirs?

Most humans are anthropocentric, meaning that they put humans ahead of everything else. They are meat-eaters, evolved this way by killing wild animals for food. These days it is of no consequence or difference to them if they kill a cow, duck, pig or whatever, that they will have any remorse for taking out a bear or any other sentient beast. The mindset of these people is to kill no matter what the situation is. The media only enhance and sensationalize the situation that only benefits them and their profit margin.

How can we alter what people do if we put blind faith in believing what the media or the politicians tell us? We must be self-informed by the right people, people who know what the facts are, the true facts .

Lynn Rogers who has studied wild black bears since 1967 for the U.S. Forest Service, the University of Minnesota, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, and the Wildlife Research Institute said: “Developing my own trust of the bears took years of erasing the thoughts I grew up with. The outdoor magazines I read usually portrayed bears as dangerous and unpredictable. Official brochures that I thought were authoritative warned about the dangers of bears. Bears that were mounted in the finest museums showed unnatural snarls. When I began my studies, I had all the common misconceptions that come with a lifetime of misinformation.”

He continues: “ Will black bears attack if they sense a person is afraid? No. Most people who encounter black bears close-up ARE afraid and are not attacked. The idea that bears will attack if they sense we are vulnerable is an idea conjured up out of our own fear. Black bears aren’t territorial toward people like dogs sometimes are, and they usually behave like they’re worried that they’ll be attacked.”

So, it’s only through facts and reading the right information and talking to the ones who really know, that we can learn how not to believe what the media or the politicians tell us. It’s changing peoples old ways of thinking, a tall feat task indeed.

Sincerely

Tim Fisher