[at-l] Car Campers hit in NH and two Bear stories too:

[jbryankramer at msn.com (J Bryan Kramer)]

N.H. Storm Injuries Nine, Traps Campers 
Saturday, August 21, 2004
 
HAMPTON FALLS, N.H - A powerful storm ripped through a family campground,
trapping campers under downed trees and injuring at least nine people.
Police said the narrow, localized thunderstorm cell caused extensive damage
at the park. "It was pretty fierce here," Fire Chief Jay Lord said. He said
it took about an hour to free one camper after a tree landed on his trailer.

"People were just screaming," said Rebecca Duclos, a Manchester (search)
woman who was staying with her husband and two children at the Wakeda
Campground (search) on Route 88. Duclos said it was "pitch black" after the
storm had passed late Friday. Power lines and trees were downed at the
campground and along the roads leading to it.

Josh Grant, of Newbury, Vt., said his parents were hospitalized after a tree
crushed their camper. He said both were conscious when reached by rescuers,
but were pinned and impaled by branches. According to its Web site, the
Wakeda Campground has 400 camp sites and cabins over 180 acres, not far from
New Hampshire's seacoast.

 http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,129626,00.html

Kentucky Bear Killer Goes on Trial  
Friday, August 20, 2004
 
LETCHER COUNTY, Ky. - Generally speaking, you have a right under the law to
use reasonable force to defend your life, your family and your property. But
what defines a legitimate threat if you come across a bear? That's what a
Kentucky jury must decide when Terry Brock goes on trial in September for
killing a 250-pound black bear (search) in his backyard.

Over the last few decades, the black bear has been on the comeback in
Kentucky, after years of over hunting almost led to its disappearance. But
the animal remains protected because the population is still slightly less
than a thousand. Brock says he regrets shooting the bear, but that it was
swatting his dogs, and had his horse so spooked he feared it would break its
leg.

He says he tried to scare the bear off by banging on his mobile home, and
that his wife called the Kentucky Department of Wildlife (search) for
advice. In the end, Brock claims the bear left him with no other choice,
because it seemed ready to attack. But according to the state the evidence
suggests otherwise -- the black bear seldom attacks people and is a shy
creature by nature.

If convicted, Brock faces 30 days to a year in jail and a fine up to $1,000.
Brock says the thought of jail scares him -- but not as much as the bear did

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,129498,00.html

Noisy ecotourists may boost bear numbers 
 
  
09:30 21 August 04 
  
The presence of noisy ecotourists may unexpectedly benefit brown bears in
the wild. Though the tourists scare big male bears away from prime feeding
zones, hungry mothers and cubs are not deterred and seize the opportunity to
eat free from the threat of infanticide, helping to boost the population.
....
They found that while adult males avoided the tourists, feeding only in the
early morning before the tourists arrived at 7 am, the presence of people
did not bother mothers and cubs, who seemed to use the noise of buses as a
cue that dangerous males had left the stream. Even when males had left the
area altogether, females did not appear until the tourists did.

Dominant males may be less tolerant of people because of bad experiences in
the hunting season. But their absence allows mothers and cubs to eat more
salmon, improving litter sizes and cub survival, which in turn should
increase the population, Nevin says.

"Carefully managed ecotourism could be the keystone for bear conservation,"
he says. "These sites could almost become bear factories."

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996293

BK