[at-l] RE: black bear attack in NY

[shane@theplacewithnoname.com (Shane Steinkamp)]

> It's not like she left the kid out there for
> hours.  She ran the toddlers inside and went back
> for the baby, but it was too late. I don't know
> about you, but I only have two hands.  How
> do you choose which two to take inside first?
> It's not a choice I ever want to have to make.  I
> hope you don't have to either.

I don't mean to sound like a SOB, and I have sympathy for
the family and understand what she did.  Unfortunately, she
did the wrong thing - and only hindsight is 20/20.

Part of what I do in law enforcement training is to ask
officers if they have a 'family plan'.  That is, if that
officer is off duty in a restaurant with his family, and bad
guys enter the restaurant, does his family know what to do?

The same 'plan' should be in place for everyone - just like
a fire drill.  For instance, if you are walking in the woods
with your kids, and a bear (or other hazard) shows up, do
you all know what to do?  Do the kids (when they are old
enough) know how to act and what to do?  Do they understand
the seriousness of the 'get-behind-me-now game'?  Do the
kids understand that if daddy starts wrassling with a bear
that mom will escort them to safety while daddy plays with
the nice bear?

To answer the question, which two do you take inside first,
the obvious answer to me is that kids get tossed one by one
through the door while I get to stand outside.  I've tossed
kids OUT of a burning building before, so I know that
getting tossed won't kill them.  The infant, of course, gets
to be carried and NOT tossed, unless it becomes necessary to
do so...  When the bear comes up on the porch, I get to be
the first victim.  I am the 'rear guard'.  The critter has
to come through me first, and depending on the critter, that
won't be an easy feat.  Not just for my kids, but for
anybody else's kids too.  I think that if that mother had
her choices to make over again, she would make different
ones.

While it is sad, it is also a good lesson for all of us.  We
should all have 'family plans', and practice them just like
we practice fire and tornado drills.  What if the critter in
question wasn't a bear, but a human being?  Do the kids all
know to yell 'STRANGER!' and point?  If a stranger comes
into the yard, you can bet your life's savings that I'm not
going into the house until the kids do...even if that
stranger is the mail man.

> I feel for the family, and also the (now deceased)
> bear.

Agreed.

Shane