Bear with head stuck in jar shot by Minn. officers

A black bear with its head stuck inside a 2 1/2-gallon jar led Minnesota DNR officers on a two-county chase lasting six days before they shot and killed it when it wandered into the city of Frazee. "When it got into town, our main concern was public safety," said Rob Naplin, DNR wildlife supervisor in Park Rapids. Chris Niskanen in The Pioneer Press.

Comments

[Karla]

Why in the HELL wouldn't they just tranquilize it ? Mankind really sucks. And I'm middle aged so I know what I'm talking about.

[Brian]

I have to beleive that there was another way to solve this problem without killing the bear...humane traps, nets, using food as bait, using large vehicles to scare it away. Someone wanted the glory of killing a bear. It did not have to end this way.

[john]

if you read the whole article, you will see they spent 6 days trying to capture or tranquilize the bear before shooting it. It does suck that they had to shoot it. I am not sure why they couldn't capture it in 6 days. Seems they may not have tried very hard to spare the bear.

[Bob]

Frazee has a population of 1377. I doubt every small town has a tranquilizer kit for bear control. The thing wandered into a public festival and they probably didn't have time to engineer some elaborate plan to bait and capture the thing. Its unfortunate, but I have no problem with this. Maybe you guys ought to spend your time belly-aching over all the cattle that are slaughtered daily with a pneumatic hammer, and all the chickens that lose their heads.

[Bob]

Al Sharpton is heading up there as we speak. They said the only reason they shot the bear because is was black.

[Claudelc]

I am completed disgusted. WTF. They couldn't tranquilize the bear but managed to get in a fatal shot. I am so sick of this type of stuff. It makes me want to vomit.

[Eric]

John, if you read the article it says they thought about tranq'ing it but couldn't find a gun in time and it left the park. SO why didn't they, after finding the gun, go after the bear with it...they could have kept people on it to monitor it's movements. But no, they shot it and killed it. I have to agree with Karia...people suck. We have no regard for life in this country.

[david, new york]

Bob,

Concerning your comment, I agree with your part about the horrible death cattle that are slaughtered daily in the u.s. - it's why countries around the globe want NOTHING to do with our meat sales, as they are boycotting our exports like wildfire. The days of excessive, inane meet eating are over. Americans have been taught to live wastefully for decades, but humanitarian issues have pressed through and people aren't buying the whole free market consumerism BS anymore.

BUT, your comment about Frazee not having a tranq kit available on call is laughable. Frazee is known to have their bear population wander in and out of areas inhabited by humans, so they are prepared. If they are not, that is not the bear's fault. Your response is proof positive that we, as humans, for all of our intelligence, technological "advancements" - continue to fail the world's animals and the environment.

Shame on the local yocals for ending this poor starving animals life.

This world is sad, and it's getting worse. Where is the accountability ANYWHERE in our country? From the top down, nobody steps up and says "I/we were wrong, here's how we will make sure not to do it again."

As an American, I have the right to voice my dissent against the poor decisions of our leaders (at the national and local level), and agree with Eric that we have lost the regard for life in this country -- on the average.