On July 9, 2017, a 19-year old camp counselor in Colorado was attacked by a black bear. The boy suffered non-life-threatening injuries in what appeared to be an unprovoked attack. As more facts begin to emerge, a much bigger picture comes into focus about why all the confrontations are occurring between bears and people.
This bear attack in Colorado could have been prevented if potentially dangerous animals and people had been kept apart with adequate fencing. Wild animals are not adapted to civilization, and some kinds of wild animals are more easily provoked when they are around a lot of people.
Wildlife officials tracked down the black bear that had attacked the boy and promptly exterminated it. A spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Parks and Wildlife stated to the associated press: “In fact, the unprovoked attack has rattled the community so much that any bear caught in the area over the next few days will likely be euthanized!” This kind of talk reveals how mass hysteria can grip people and cause them to make major mistakes in judgement and action.
There is more insight into how mismanagement of wild animals is affecting people in Colorado. On July 5, 2017, the Colorado Parks and Wildlife reported four black bears were killed in one day. Two of the bears were shot by home owners when they entered homes and two were euthanized by state officials after killing livestock.
It’s obvious that the bears were in a place where they were in danger, but why were the bears there? The truth is, people infringed on the territory of the bears, and the animals had no space of their own. The bears were looking for food in a barren habitat that people had taken over and destroyed – and for this they were killed!
The corruptive authorities who manage wildlife, including the Federal Government, should have provided the bears and other wild animals with a place of their own. The kind of preserve needed was a fenced-in preserve that would keep animals in and people out and be large enough to be self-sustaining with a balanced ecosystem.
Public lands, including National Forests, are not wildlife preserves. Hordes of tourists and hunters flock into these public lands disrupting the natural ecosystem for all kinds of wildlife. Only fenced-in wildlife preserves will prevent the confrontations between wild animals and people; in these preserves, people should not be allowed to pitch tents and do other activities.
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Conservation Departments and other wildlife officials are forcing wild animals and people together; they are trying to bring back populations of black bears and other wild animals in places like Missouri and Arkansas, but they are not providing these animals with any kind of safe sanctuary. Wild animals should not be forced to live in an environment where they are deliberately and needlessly killed by the authorities and hunters.
Law enforcement personnel, conservation agents and other wildlife officials who are employed in the management of wildlife, are needlessly exterminating wild animals. Every time a wild animal is involved in any kind of confrontation with people, the usual protocol of the authorities is to kill the animal. There are always other options in dealing with wild animals besides killing them. Wild animals can be live-trapped and relocated.
Wild animals do not recognize man-made laws and are not guilty of committing crimes; they should never be treated like criminals. If a wild animal acts aggressive, the authorities usually treat it worse than a serial killer with no mercy or clemency. Wild animals deserve better than this – even serial killers are afforded a “fair” trial.
Corruptive officials have made managing wildlife a defiling and unethical business where wild animals are being exploited for the purpose of appeasing hunters and for obtaining financial gain. The money made from the sale of hunting licenses is not being spent for the benefit and welfare of wild animals.
The unjust treatment of wild animals should be a major concern for all American citizens. New wild animal preserves need to be established, and all those homeless bears and other wild animals need to be rounded up and relocated in these preserves. Irresponsible people should not be allowed to hand out death sentences to innocent wild animals.
--Marlin O. Wallace
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