On September 16th, 2011, Hope, the world famous black bear whose birth was witnessed on line thanks to a cam in her mother Lily's den and was part of a research programme in Ely Minnesota, was baited, shot and killed by a hunter. The hunter's baiting station was close to a regular feeding station set up by the researchers. The hunter who killed Hope not only did not express any remorse but went on to explain he targets smaller yearlings because of the better quailty meat they provide. As abhorrent as trophy hunting is, this hunter does not hunt for a trophy he hunts for food. And because of this we know Hope's ignominious fate.
Josephine: You have long stated " A fed bear is a dead bear" . I think this recent most tragic of events proves that statement without a shadow of a doubt.
Some of us want to discuss and get involved with and be part of a solution to the plight so many of our beautiful wild creatures face at the hands of uncaring, ignorant humans.
You are invited here.................... Let's make a difference.

Quote by: elle

As abhorrent as trophy hunting is, this hunter does not hunt for a trophy he hunts for food.

Are you saying that hunting for food is worse than trophy hunting, elle? If so, I don't think I agree - though it is definitely a topic that could have a number of points of view.

Hi Elle and Judy and anyone else here.....

Elle asked me to come here. I was as dismayed as everyone at Hope's death since it is just totally senseless. I wish to cycle my feelings into some sort of discussion/action that might make a difference. Being a writer as many of you are, possibly we can make others understand the value of a live teaching bear to the world as opposed to just another harvested bear. That is not limited to bears either - seeing humpback whales in Alaska and how they actually talked to us on our ship (I posted pictures on Screech Hollow of our incredible expedition with whales about 20 feet from the ship breaching!) confirmed my feelings that whales must be protected. They are extremely intelligent mammals. It does not stop there.

There is too much we do not understand and a huge part of me feels that in our ignorance we can cause damage with repercussions far beyond what we imagine. We need to preserve and protect our beautiful Earth.

I read back about the Gulf Oil Spill which was horrifying for us here in Texas. Fortunately some of the Pelicans were brought here for safety. We cannot regain what we lose, we must preserve and the only way for that to happen is if we speak for our Earth.
carolyn

No, Judy, I am saying trophy hunting is equally if not more abhorrent. Many wish to have a serious, pragmatic conversation about a topic that is obviously contrary to the mainstream " chat" forum threads . I am sure they don't want this kind of conversation there and neither do we. It is a" know your audience" scenario. We need and have asked to have another venue to express how we feel about the status quo and what we as a like minded group can do to change that. Is that not good or acceptable or allowable? Frankly, knowing that Hope will be eaten by this hunter this winter sickens me. Is it necessary to feed his family? Some say the USA is in a recession and they need to hunt to feed their families. How much does it cost to hunt? How much does it cost to have a gun, a licence, hunting gear. How much does it cost to remove, process and butcher a bear, or any other wild creature weighing upwards to 500 lbs? I am presuming it is not free..Nowadays most people don't know how to personally dress and butcher an animal so surely someone is being paid to do it. If money and cost is an issue, then my opinion is plant a garden! Or learn to economise because unfortunately most people do not know how to cook from scratch. Or tap into the social safety network of benevolent societies and food stamps and food banks and food kitchens. A block and a half away from where I live, the homeless shelter serves 1500 meals a day to the homeless. No one goes hungry here. These live cams have proven to us that animals are sentient and feel pain and have family dynamics and care and nurture their families better than most/ many humans. And out of sight is not out of mind! Hope's mother Lily has been tearing around frantically looking for Hope before she dens for the winter. That is so heartbreaking. Under the circumstances there is just no balm for that.

Elle, with no disrespect, this is contrary to a few of your comments.

A vast number of hunters do butcher and dress their own animals and quite a few do hunt because they can't afford the high price of meat in the stores or the prices the butchers charge for their services.
Of course, this doesn't include the trophy hunters who are only out for the heads, antlers and hides. I have never agreed that trophy hunting should be legal.

Not that I am a fan of hunting by any stretch of the imagination but here are a few things to think about.

Three points to consider on the side of hunting.

1. The hunter does a service in holding down the numbers of wild game, which otherwise would explode in numbers, and as we know from studying history would experience a great tragic die-off because of over population problems. The die-offs caused by over population create far more suffering in the animal world then does quick death resulting from fair chase hunting.
Note this is "fair chase" hunting and not baiting. Baiting is NOT legal in most areas.

In my own area of the province years back we had a terrible winter with so much snow the elk and deer were starving. The hunters here rallied by bringing in hay and grain to feed these animals through a winter.

2. By buying a hunting license money goes toward maintaining habitat and other expenditures connected to wildlife management.

3. Wild game meat does not contain injected hormones, antibiotics, etc.


Now on the side of buying your steaks in a supermarket. (and of course this would hold true for chicken, fish, etc)

1. Animals have been injected with hormones and likely antibiotics which will now be consumed on your dinner plate.

2. Cattle, chickens, pigs have been raised with the fate of becoming your dinner. They have no choice and will never be free.

2. And now for the slaughter.
Calves are separated and begin to cry for their mothers. The mother cows cry out for their babies. This goes on until the huge trucks arrive to take the calves to feed lots where they are packed into corrals like sardines with little room to move. The next cattle liner is loaded with cattle ready for the trip to the slaughter houses. The trucks travel great distances, with no facilities to water or feed the calves and cows while en route. After much suffering and hardship, the calves and cows are brutally butchered. Finally the lovely red meat arrives in your super market, neatly packaged in white trays and covered by plastic sheeting.

Is being slaughtered a humane way to kill an animal ?? And on the other side of the coin, is being killed by one quick bullet any more humane ??

The debate of the pros and cons can go on forever and never come to an agreement, but it's up to each of us to make this World a better place for the creatures that inhabit it.

Well, jkr, a group of like minded people expressed an interest in getting together to discuss what we might be able to do to make the world a better, safer place for wildlife. It was precipitated by Hope's death at the hands of a hunter. It wasn't expressly to discuss the pros and cons of hunting because these interested people are already against it.
I, for one, know all about factory farmed animals and have advocated against it for years. Finally the SPCA is getting involved in this area and there are SPCA approved labels on some packaged meat now. I do not eat factory farmed meat any more than I eat wild meat. Further, I don't think it is necessary to eat any meat at all so using lack of affordability as an excuse to hunt leaves me cold. The greater proportion of the world's already bursting human population lives healthily on a staple diet of beans and rice, the combination of the two being a complete protein. The poorest of the poor often eat a healthier diet than the wealthy and many healthy people don't eat any meat at all or asny animal products whatsoever.
So thank you for your information on hunting but none of us who wanted to come here are supporters of hunting. I got off on a tirade myself once I got going and in response to JudyB's question about trophy hunting. And that is not the idea. I am infuriated by what happened to Hope in many ways not just the bullet. For instance, baiting stations as you mentioned and feeding stations. These are things we could discuss and they also came about because of Hope.

Carolyn: When I flew over the Gulf of Mexico I could see oil stillswirling in the water from the airplane! This was the worst disaster for wildlife. Another one of my causes is to keep oil tankers out of our pristine BC waters. Exxon-Valdez oil spill is still not completely cleaned up and that was how long agao? 25-30 years?

I hope Grizz comes here to finish telling us what he knows from living in Minnesota.

And John.

And others.

Where do you see this going?

Well i for one, am wondering where this is going... Hope's death has raised a lot of questions in my mind... i think/ know it could have been avoided if Hope was sprayed painted like was requested by one of our viewers that i know off... Hope refused to leave the collar on, they knew that and yet they didn't see spray paint as a credible alternative to saving her life... it was a contradiction to me since all the collared bears were adorned with colored ribbons for their safety... Thoughts anyone...

Bev, spray painting her could have been an option but unfortunately not done for reasons only the researchers can answer and we don't know if it would have saved her life or not.

Another question may be whether not she would have gone to that bait station if she had not been fed by humans previously ? Having as much human interaction as she had in her short life my personal feeling is that she had too much trust in humans.
Which brings me to another subject.
My own city is undertaking a deer cull. It has caused a lot of controversy but the truth is the deer within the city have lost any fear of humans. It is so sad to see how badly we have encroached on their environment and they are now paying the price for it.