[pct-l] Response from Utah to previous mails about bear attack

[ryan morvay]

       I live in Utah,  inbetween where this happened and Salt Lake City.  I have been here for 14 years and have spent many, many, many nights outdoors,  all throughout Utah.  And although I have never seen, or had problems with bear,  even in this area,  I am always careful.  
         In Utah, bears have never been a problem and we really dont hear about them.  Campgrounds very, very rarely have any bear boxes or anything warning of bear activity, except an occasional sign.  I know how to behave in bear country because I have spent the last 15-20 years hiking and camping,  and I dont feel it is public knowledge of what to do or how to act if bears are present,  and this area is not known for having bears,  sure they move but you know what I mean.  
         This family did what they could where they were at,  no bear vaults, so they had all their food in the car, which usually isnt a good thing,  but in this case it was better than what they had.  
         The blame is falling on the forrest service because this same bear had been harassing people and the campground a day before.  The forrest service tried to track the bear but lost its trail and it was getting to late, so they put it off and didnt get back to it,  nor did they make any mention of it at the campground or post any warnings.  Sure its always a danger in the woods,  but in this case a warning would have been good,  not that it would have changed the outcome or not.  
         I have been to campgrounds before where I have seen warnings that bear have been seen active there recently.  They even said they didnt think more people would show up at the campgroud before they were able to handle the situation, especially on a Sunday.
         It is a terrible thing that happened,  something that hasnt happened since I have lived here,  and I dont think that making the family seem like they are ignorant or to blame for the situation is any good for the outdoor community,  the family just thinks that the forrest service could have taken more steps to make it known that there was a problem bear in the area.
         Like I said,  it is a terrible thing that happened to both the boy and the bear, and who knows if another outcome would have happened if there were warnings.
         Blame should not be put on anyone or anything,  we should just hope this educates people and that it doesn't happen again,  but the more mankind encroaches on wild habitat, the more encounters we will see.
   
  Thanks for reading-
Tortoise <Tortoise73 at charter.net> wrote:
  here's another link to the grandfather blaming the feds and a partial 
quote. some of the other stories no longer come up when I search Google 
news.

http://kutv.com/local/local_story_170134236.html


Grandfather Of Bear Victim Blames Feds


SLIDESHOW: Utah Is Black Bear Country



SLIDESHOW: Wildlife Officials Kill Black Bear


/PROVO/ The grandfather of an 11-year-old boy who was killed by a black 
bear blamed authorities Tuesday for not warning that the hulking animal 
was believed to have harassed another group of campers at the same site 
hours earlier.

Eldon Ives said the U.S. Forest Service should have shut down a nearby 
30-site campground and warned everybody around that a dangerous bear was 
loose on a flank of 11,749-foot Mount Timpanogos, about 30 miles 
southeast of Salt Lake City.

``We're hoping that the Forest Service will do a better job protecting 
campers,'' Eldon Ives told reporters at a news conference on his front 
lawn.

[original article continues]




and here's a link to another story: http://www.sltrib.com/ci_6183553

----------
Tortoise

<> He who finishes last, wins! <>

I switched to Mac OSX rather than fight Windows
Using Mozilla Thunderbird http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/



Eric Lee (GAMES) wrote:
> Shauna wrote:
> 
> So where is the proof that a bear had anything to do with this murder?
> 
>
> The article says they found the boy's body about 400 yards away from the tent and although it doesn't go into detail, presumably the cause of death (bite marks, etc) would have been pretty obvious.
>
> There is, however, no evidence in this article that the family made any particular mistakes, or that the bear was habituated to human food, or that the family is blaming the authorities as Tortoise implied. Maybe there are other articles with more details . . .
>
> Eric
>
> 
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