[pct-l] Bears, mules

>Hello all,

I've noticed a few postings, particularly by R.J. Baynum, which I feel
inclined to respond to..

Bears belong in the wilderness.  People don't.  I love visiting the
wilderness, but I also keep in mind that a bear in the wilderness would
have as much a "right" to maul me as I would to shoot it if it walked
into my house and tried to attack me--perhaps more.

--Chris Mills
PCT in 2000<

Hi, Chris,

I agree with most of what you wrote, except the above paragraph. Bears do
belong in the wilderness. I DO NOT agree that people do not belong there
also. As a species, we may be becoming increasingly urban, but our origins
were certainly out "in the wilderness", and there are many of us who feel
more "at home" there than where we currently live.

Though I'll grant that a bear may maul me for my food or some other reason,
at the time of an attack, it becomes a matter of survival between the two
creatures, the bear and the human, and the strongest or the most
technologically superior (by use of bear spray, gun, or some other means)
will win. If the bear kills or mutilates the human, the bear's "rights" mean
nothing since the bear will be eliminated.

The problem is that many hundreds of thousands of people love the wilderness
enough to visit it each year, but of that number, it is my opinion that only
a small percentage know how to "behave" in a wilderness, meaning that, most
of them take their "urban" habits to the wilderness with them. Nor do they
care enough to learn appropriate wilderness behavior and habits. So because
of the interaction between wild creatures and humans, we get problem bears,
problem jays, problem rodents, problem raccoons, problem possums, problem
skunks, problem mountain lions, problem ground squirrels.
How many skunks and raccoons get relocated because they break into someone's
food? (a bit of levity!)

It's not likely that "we," meaning the polity of interested citizens and
government managers, are going to get humans out of the wilderness. The
solution will not be to make the wilderness off limits to people, since
those who really want to be there will find a way to be (wilderness is,
after all, "public land"). As much as I dislike legislating behavior, or
creating arbitrary "regs" that direct behavior, that will be what it takes
to get people to keep wild creatures from getting into their food. And maybe
rubber bullets, trained dogs, and other deterrents will also be required to
"direct" bear behavior.

And, all of this is, of course, only my opinion.

Craig Smith
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