user wrote:
Well, it's a damned-if-they-do, damned-if-they-don't situation, isn't it?

In a way, yes.


If they don't try to find the bear, then they're stuck with the problem
of a bear who willingly attacks multiple humans, and then hangs around
even long after the attacks are over. That has obvious implications for
anyone else who goes near the area.

They need to look at why the initial attack occured, though.
Hibernation just stopped, and bears are out and hungry. This was
apparently a male bear and he first attacked the 2 year old - obvious
prey. he turned on the mother when she tried to take the baby away
(normal behavior).

Then the little girl ran away - the bear is already agitated, comes
across a running (probably screaming) small animal - again, natural
predatory behavior.

Honestly, I don't think what the bear did is abnormal in any way.



When they do try to find the bear, they get castigated as not being
willing to just let "nature take it's course, and leave the bear alone".
Yes, they apparently got the wrong one. And they might get the
wrong one the next time, too. But there's no way I would start claiming
that it's just an excuse for a "bunch of gun-happy rednecks" to have
an "excuse to kill something." They're just trying to make the best
of an already untenable situation.

But you have to agree that there are a lot of idiots out there that
will use this as an excuse to try to seek revenge against the bear -
that's just wrong. It's still possible that the bear they caught was
the correct bear - they need to confirm with DNA. I just hope it is,
as it's a sad situation, all the way around.

The bigger issue is rabies. At this point, I would be inclined to take
the rabies shots and ask them to quit trapping bears. At some point,
if they don't find the correct bear, the baby and Mom will have to take
rabies shots anyway.

-L.