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A life of garbage, early pregnancies and violent deaths plague big city bearsNEW YORK (SEPTEMBER 30, 2008) – Black bears that live around urban areas weigh more, get pregnant at a younger age, and are more likely to die violent deaths, according to a study by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). The study, published in the Fall 2008 issue of the journal Human-Wildlife Conflicts, tracked 12 bears over a 10-year period living in urban areas around Lake Tahoe, Nevada and compared them to 10 "wildland" bears that lived in outlying wild areas. The authors found that bears in urbanized areas...

The first-ever scientific census shattered earlier estimates that said there were at least 250-350 bears roaming the area. More recent data placed the minimum population at around 563 bears. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is in charge of regulating endangered species, is currently reviewing the bears' status in Montana as part of a five-year review required by the Endangered Species Act. The study's results will help biologists determine whether the bear still needs federal protection, a conclusion due out early next year.

I was wondering if there's any interest in a get together in downtown Chicago to watch the Bears/rally the group in support of the ticket?

The lefties had better be careful. Alaska is a tough, wild place, and Sarah Palin may just be a wolf in sheep’s clothing. This bear (and the crab for that matter) found out what happens when you cross the governor. You end up as a decoration in her office.

Gov Sarah Palin - just another dirty politician  Barbarians for Sarah Palin (front center)!                                               The top 11 things you should know about Sarah Palin:         1) She is presently under investigation http://www.ktva.com/ci_10026165 in Alaska for abuse of power http://voices.washingtonpost.com/washingtonpostinvestigations/2008/08/mccains_vp_pick_palin_facing_e.html        2) She strongly supports big oil (her husband works for oil company BP)        3) She believes creationism should be taught in public schools        4) She is opposed to abortion even in cases of rape and incest        5) She has no federal or international experience.  Prior to being governor (for less than two years) she was only the mayor of a small Alaskan town...

More than 30 American black bears have been sighted in Known as Ursus americanus and native to North America, there are some 600,000 black bears across Canada, the United States and Mexico, but the large populations of northern Mexico are dwindling to a only a few thousand as deforestation and cities destroy their habitats. The bears, with black fur and brown muzzles, stand often over 6.5 feet (2 meters) tall, live off plants, fruits and nuts, as well as carrion. But deforestation and droughts in northern Mexico can force many bears to seek food in rubbish dumps on the edge...

Scientists Debate Moving Polar Bears to Antarctica as Arctic MeltsJuly 24, 2008 Scientists are obviously reaching a point of true desperation. While the world still debates whether climate change is even real (eye roll), the scientific community is coming back to an idea that was once considered wrongheaded and dangerous: moving species to new areas of the world as their natural habitats become inhabitable. First up: moving the polar bears to the other side of the globe. From Wired: Caught between climate change and human pressure, species are going extinct 100 times faster than at any point in human history....

Terrified workers at a mining compound in one of Russia's most isolated regions are refusing to go to work after a pack of giant bears attacked and ate two of their colleagues. At least 30 of the hungry animals have been seen prowling close to the mines in northern Kamchatka in search of food, where the mangled remains of the two workers, both guards, were found last week. The co-workers at the compound in the Olyotorsky district are trapped and frightened: the gruesome discovery has left them too scared to venture out. A team of snipers, with orders to shoot...

Terrified workers at a mining compound in one of Russia's most isolated regions are refusing to go to work after a pack of giant bears attacked and ate two of their colleagues. At least 30 of the hungry animals have been seen prowling close to the mines in northern Kamchatka in search of food, where the mangled remains of the two workers, both guards, were found last week. The Kamchatka brown bear is one of the world's largest, with males growing to around 10 feet and weighing up to 1,540 pounds. They can also reach speeds of up to 30...

Bears Trap Geologists In Russia By Sky News SkyNews - Tuesday, July 22 03:07 pm At least 30 hungry bears have trapped a group of geologists at their remote survey site in Russia's far east after killing two of their co-workers last week. (Advertisement) The team of geologists on Russia's seismically active Kamchatka peninsula refused to leave their camp after the bears showed up, a spokesman for the region's emergency services ministry said. He said: "In the interests of safety they didn't come out to work - the people are scared by the invasion of bears." A bear killed two...

Bears and mountain lions are getting into trees, trash and backyards all over Colorado, lured by the smell of easy prey and free meals. They're getting smarter, they're getting fatter, and they're getting killed more frequently, thanks to the thoughtlessness of the humans living in their midst, say Colorado Division of Wildlife officials. In the northeastern quadrant of the state, which includes metro Denver, there have been some 47 reports of human-bear encounters since April. A remarkable number of them involve hummingbird feeders, trash left outside, steaks left on the barbecue, garage doors left open. In Aspen and numerous other...

Beware the bear. The Department of Natural Resources is getting reports of black bears being sighted this summer in southwest Wisconsin, including Dane, Sauk, Richland and Iowa counties. DNR wildlife biologist Becky Roth said there's little cause for alarm because the bears are normally timid and try to avoid contact with people, but they could cause problems if scavenging for food around homes or campsites. The local sightings were near Blue Mounds in western Dane County, near Barneveld in Iowa County, near Richland Center in Richland County and near Lake Delton in Sauk County, all during the past three weeks....

Whoops forgot link...APALACHICOLA, Fla. (CBS) - A Florida Fish and Wildlife biologist pulled off a daring rescue Saturday in the Panhandle: He rescued a bear with his bare hands. Officials say a 375-pound male black bear was seen roaming a residential neighborhood near Alligator Point, a neighborhood of about 100 homes on a small peninsula about 40 miles south of Tallahassee. The bear was hit with a tranquilizer dart, but he managed to bolt.. http://boknowsonline.com/2008/07/02/bear-ly-saved/

Always there have been the bears in and around Anchorage. Never before has there been a bear mauling in town. Not that the horrific attack on 15-year-old mountain biker Petra Davis last weekend came as a shock to those familiar with local bears. A small group of wildlife biologists with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game have been warning for years that something like this could happen ... Some who have been hiking, running and mountain biking in the park and the adjacent Chugach State Park for decades say they see more bears and more bear sign than ever...

A teenage girl riding in an all-night bicycle race suffered severe injuries early this morning when a bear attacked her on a trail ... Police officers with shotguns escorted medics into dark woods to retrieve the girl... "She was cut up and bit pretty good," After the mauling, the girl used her cell phone to call 911 but was unable to communicate... Another rider who came along found her sitting on the ground and said she could utter only one word: "Bear." He then used her phone to make another call for help. Sinnott said he didn't arrive in time...

As Tim Egan flew down Old Stage Road in Boulder County on Tuesday afternoon on his bike, he saw a large, unusual obstacle in the way. Before he could squeeze the brakes, the 53-year-old former Colorado College hockey player was in the midst of a bike-vs.-bear accident. A black bear crossing the road from west to east collided with Egan, who estimated he was going 45 mph. Egan, of Boulder, was tossed into the air and skidded across the asphalt, suffering a nasty case of road rash, cracked ribs and lacerations to his head, he said. “If it wasn’t me...

Bob McLeod is all in favour of protecting Arctic polar bears. But he thinks the Bush administration is being "hypocritical" by trying to do it at the expense of American big game hunters, who spend millions each year seeking polar bear trophies in Canada's North. McLeod, the Northwest Territories' minister of human resources, on Monday opened a four-day trip in Washington to protest a Department of the Interior decision in May that prohibits the import of polar bear hides from Canada. The import ban was automatically triggered when the U.S. listed polar bears as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act,...

Groups say they will sue over polar bears, drillingBy DAN JOLING Associated Press Writer Posted on Mon, Jun. 09, 2008 ANCHORAGE, Alaska --Two conservation groups plan to sue to protect polar bears from petroleum exploration and drilling off Alaska's coast. The Center for Biological Diversity and Pacific Environment gave the federal government formal notice Monday that they will sue under the Endangered Species Act to protect the bears, which were listed as threatened last month by Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne. Polar bears are threatened - likely to become endangered - because their sea ice habitat has melted dramatically and computer...

Planning a trip to the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center? Here's something you should know: leave your food and beverages behind. The Juneau attraction has imposed a food ban to protect both people and black bears. Water, however, is allowed. The no-food policy covers the two public parking lots... and beach areas.

A man from B.C.'s Interior not only survived being mauled by a grizzly — he killed the bear as well. John Shorter, 38, was hiking near Dease Lake in Northern B.C. Tuesday when he said he smelled a bear in the area. "I heard a woofing sound, turned, seen a grizz coming at me. I managed to get my rifle up and get one round into the chest.… At that point he got on top of me, obviously, and took me down," Shorter said. "He proceeded to try to maul me in the back of the scalp and on the...

Last night's two hotel guests relaxing in a hot tub in Ouray looked up to find there was another guest in the tub- a bear. The hotel says the bear was just inches away from one guest. Both the guest and the bear got the scare of their lives, the guest screamed and the bear ran and dove into the swimming pool. The Bear made his escape after swimming across the pool The Ouray Police Department says five to six bears have roaming the streets. Even walking down Main Street during the day.

The parents of the 11-year-old boy killed by a black bear last summer in American Fork Canyon are suing the U.S. Forest Service and Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. They say more should have been done to prevent their son's death. Step-father Tim Mulvey, his wife Rebecca Ives and Sam’s father say they have lived with the horror of that father's day weekend every day since and now they want to make sure it never happens to anyone else's family. It is grief beyond comprehension for most of us; a child ripped away from his family in the middle of...

The husband of a 70-year-old grandmother who was killed by a bear in northern Quebec ... Conservation experts set traps after Friday evening's attack, but ... the bear was still at large in the wilds of northern Quebec. As she scouted a fishing hole for walleye, Ms. Lavoie became separated from her husband. Barely 10 minutes later, Mr. Lavoie felt something was amiss and went searching for his wife of 51 years. Metres away he came upon the nightmarish scene of her body being dragged into the forest by a bear. Mr. Lavoie chased the predator for nearly 200 metres...

Gotta love PETA. Just gotta love ‘em. Well, not really. One of the animal rights group’s more obscure pressure campaigns involves trying to convince the Queen of England to give up the natural black-bear fur hats that Buckingham Palace guards have worn for 200 years. Because — y’know — British monarchs have always responded so well to public pressure from nitwits. Are black bears endangered? Nope. The species covers most of North America. And black bear populations are growing in Canada, where Her Majesty’s funny hats come from. So what’s the big deal? PETA hates people who wear fur. And...

Bears' Benson charged with boating while intoxicated, resisting arrest ESPN.com news services Updated: May 4, 2008, 4:00 PM ET AUSTIN, Texas -- Chicago Bears running back Cedric Benson failed a sobriety test while operating a 30-foot boat, then resisted arrest before being hit with pepper spray and dragged ashore by officers. Benson faces charges of boating while intoxicated and resisting arrest after the incident Saturday night on Lake Travis, Travis County Sheriff's Department spokesman Roger Wade said. Both charges are misdemeanors. Benson was released from jail early Sunday on a $14,500 bond. A call to Benson's agent was not immediately...

IF YOU WANT TO know how smart I am, read my columns. If you want to know how stupid I am, read the comments section of my columns, where readers get to rip what I say to shreds. Used to be that when supposed "experts" like me talked, all people could do was listen. Now they can talk back, and their ideas can compete with mine head-to-head on the web. The most frequent criticism I get in the comments section is that, in my generally bullish view on the economy and the stock market, I'm overlooking the lethal effect of...

A former member of Bear Education and Resource, an anti-hunting organization that blames people and their unsecured garbage for New Jersey's bruin troubles, was charged today with deliberately feeding the animals. Susan Kehoe, 57, was videotaped providing bags of sunflower seeds to bears in the backyard of her Vernon Township home... conservation officers watched her repeatedly feed bears ... BEAR protested public hunts that were held in 2003 and 2005 in the northwest corner of the state, and continues to oppose state efforts to trap nuisance bears. Kehoe and BEAR contend humans and their improperly stored trash are the problem,...

Photo Essay only: In case you are wondering, the man did get away.

Tuesday's huge rally was the second call to arms for the bulls. Both the rally just after the Bear Stearns episode, which was also a near 400-point move in the Dow, and this latest rally were what are called 90 percent up days. That is, the up volume was over 90 percent of the total volume for the day. This kind of day is hugely bullish and is often indicative of a bottom being established, a slow but sure turning of the ship to a new direction. Now, before I go any further, let me repeat that my Super Chart...

SENATE, No. 1415 STATE OF NEW JERSEY 213th LEGISLATURE INTRODUCED MARCH 3, 2008 Sponsored by: Senator STEVEN V. OROHO District 24 (Sussex, Hunterdon and Morris) SYNOPSIS Permits use of deadly force against black bears in certain cases. CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT As introduced. An Act concerning black bears and the lawful use of deadly force, and supplementing chapter 4 of Title 23 of the Revised Statutes. Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey: 1. a. In addition to the lawful taking of a black bear by a licensed hunter during authorized times...

TV critics in Britain shocked, fascinated by Alaskan's lifestyle Anchorage could have a new international celebrity: a nearly 70-year-old retired teacher who has spent the past two decades hiding from the public eye in an effort to conceal his intimate love affair with a large gang of black and grizzly bears. After the existence of Charlie Vandergaw's Susitna Valley bear farm was revealed in the Daily News last spring, the former Dimond High School wrestling coach decided to come clean with his unbelievable story.

The number of black bears that got in trouble between late November and late December nearly doubled last year as compared to the same period in 2006... In a report to the state Fish and Game Council, the division's five-member Black Bear Unit said it received 50 calls for assistance between Nov. 20 and Dec. 20. During the same period in 2006, the black bear unit fielded 27 calls. The unit uses a category system to rank misbehaving black bears. The most nefarious activity -- such as unprovoked attacks on people or animals, entries or attempted entries into houses, tents...

Ancient Cave Bears Were As Omnivorous As Modern BearsFemale cave bear skull from the Pestera cu Oase. Studies of the bones and teeth of cave bears, and especially the nitrogen isotopes in their bone protein, have concluded that they were largely vegetarian. (Credit: Academia Romana / Erik Trinkaus) ScienceDaily (Jan. 9, 2008) — Rather than being gentle giants, new research reveals that Pleistocene cave bears ate both plants and animals and competed for food with the other contemporary large carnivores of the time: hyaenas, lions, wolves, and our own human ancestors. Cave bears (Ursus spelaeus) have long fascinated paleontologists and...

Patmor had the encounter with a large brown bear ...there are other ways his life has changed after the event. He now brings more than just his dog with him while walking to the post office. "I carry my .44 whenever I go anywhere now," ... Patmor said carrying the pistol is a result of not just the bear bite, but also ... "I figured if I'm going to keep being attacked by animals, I've got to do something to protect myself," "In 20 years, I've hardly ever seen bears around my house, but I saw five browns and blacks...

Every year when my Bears are dead I look for a team to root for unless I have a real close friend who's a big fan of one of the teams. This year none of my very closest friends are fans of anyone in the playoffs. So I need a team to root for. Usually the team I pick to root for wins. So sell me on your team. I'll even consider rooting for the Packers although my Dad would kill me. (When I was young my Dad told me I could bring home a man of a different race,...

…we are repeatedly warned, if the planet continues to overheat at the present rate, within four decades our biggest carnivore will be extinct, starved to death as its natural hunting grounds disappear. "Come up and see them while you still can," is the gist of their depressing refrain. snip When outsiders question whether anyone would be so cynical, they are reminded of that now-famous photograph of a polar bear which appears to be teetering precariously on an Arctic ice-floe, melting faster than ice-cream, in the depths of winter. For a while, it became a powerful symbol of the perils of...

Bears that barge in on people in the forest have become enough of a nuisance that more of them should be hunted, state wildlife managers have decided. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, responding to a spike in human-bear contacts and an 11-year-old boy's death in June, want to issue 296 black bear hunting permits for Utah's 2008 spring and fall hunts, a 20 percent increase from the 248 permits offered this year. DWR officials say the state's black bear population is high enough to warrant the permit increase. Wildlife managers also say bears and humans clashed too many times...

Long ago, grizzly bears thrived in Montana as did tales - some tall, some true - told by frontiersmen of a man-eater even more fearsome than the other two bogeymen of the forest, wolves and mountain lions. Today, the reputation of Ursus arctos horribilis - along with other major predators ... Also changed is how people can handle encounters with grizzlies, using a chemical spray rather than guns to improve the odds that both humans and bears will escape the encounters unharmed. But Workman believes that if a bullet was good enough for his great-grandfather more than a century ago,...

POTTERS MILLS — Among the early successes of the 2007 bear season is one that a Westmoreland County man will never forget. Tom Wisniowski, of Acme, took an albino black bear. The female cub weighed in at 47 pounds. “I couldn’t tell what it was at first because there was a lot of snow and fog,” Wisniowski said. “I honestly thought it was a coyote, but then it got a little bit closer and I could tell it was an unusual bear.” Unusual? That’s an understatement. There’s very little mention of albinos among bears. One was reportedly taken in New...

Well, it's official, "At the latest measuring session of the Boone and Crockett Club, Pennsylvania black bears taken in the past three years placed first and second in North America. One of those - taken by Andrew Seaman Jr. of Dunbar in 2005 - is now tied with a bear taken in California for the largest ever taken legally by a hunter in the world." http://www.pgc.state.pa.us/pgc/cwp/view.asp?Q=172875&A=11

As of right now, though, Gov. Martin O’Malley has told the animal righteous people — not in so many words, of course — to pound sand. The animal righteous people, aka Humane Society of the United States, tried to pressure the governor into stopping the bear hunt that kicks off tomorrow in Garrett and Allegany counties. The Humane Society of the United States has pretty deep pockets, so the full-page ad it placed in The (Baltimore) Sun Monday was no big deal, fiscally speaking. The animal righteous people (ARP) ... think it makes a hunter look bad if he is...

NFL WEEK SIX LIVE THREAD October 14 1:00PM ET - CBS @ @ @ @ 1:00PM ET - FOX @ @ @ @ 4:05PM ET - FOX @ 4:15PM ET - CBS @ @ 8:15PM ET - NBC @ October 15 8:30PM ET - ESPN @ BYE

NFL WEEK FIVE LIVE THREAD October 7 1:00PM ET - CBS @ @ @ @ 1:00PM ET - FOX @ @ @ @ @ 4:05PM ET - FOX @ 4:15PM ET - CBS @ @ 8:15PM ET - NBC @ October 8 8:30PM ET - ESPN @ BYE

A week ago I chuckled while reading the Pennsylvania Game Commission's helpful tips on dealing with black bears. It had to do with avoiding problems should one of the bears get too close and personal with a human. Having spent a good deal of time in bear country over the years and having watched, admired and, yes, hunted them, I don't know if there truly is any good advice save for the standard, "Don't put garbage in easy-to-open trash cans outside your house because it will attract bears." Don't laugh. It can happen fairly close to Washington in nearby Loudoun...

IRVING – Tank Johnson is a Cowboy. According to his agent, Jerrold Colton, the Cowboys signed the suspended defensive tackle to a deal Tuesday – although they might have to wait until Nov. 11 at the earliest before he's in uniform. Johnson has at most six games left on an eight-game suspension for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy even though he has been unsigned.

NFL WEEK TWO LIVE THREAD September 16 1:00PM ET - FOX @ @ @ @ 1:00PM ET - CBS @ @ @ @ 4:05PM ET - FOX @ @ @ 4:15PM ET - CBS @ @ @ 8:15PM ET - NBC @ September 17 8:30PM ET - ESPN @

For the first time in decades, people venturing into the sprawling Selway-Bitterroot ecosystem are going to be told to keep their eyes peeled for grizzly bears. That change follows the killing of a large grizzly bear in a roadless area of north-central Idaho, where the last confirmed sighting of the species came in 1946. The grizzly was shot Sept. 3 by a Tennessee hunter near Kelly Creek, about three miles from the Montana border. The bear was a young 400- to 500-pound male that was between 6 and 9 years old, said Chris Servheen, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's...

How do you pull a tooth from a Bengal tiger? The answer, of course, is very carefully. British dentist Paul Cassar and Lisa Milella, a veterinary surgeon specialising in animal dentistry, recently travelled to India to treat some unusual patients. Mohan, a full-grown male tiger weighing more than 400lbs, and with paws the size of small dinner plates, and Maneka, a female, are former circus performers who now live in a rescue centre in Bannerghatta near Bangalore in southern India. The centre is run by the Sussex-based charity International Animal Rescue (IAR) which also has a rescue centre for bears...

NFL WEEK ONE LIVE THREAD September 6th 8:30PM EST - NBC @ September 9th 1:00PM EST - CBS @ @ @ @ @ @ 1:00PM EST - FOX @ @ @ 4:15PM EST - FOX @ @ @ 8:15PM EST - NBC @ September 10th 7:00PM EST - ESPN @ 10:15PM EST - ESPN @

Atlanta (7-9) at Minnesota (6-10) - 1:00 PM The Falcons missed the playoffs last year by losing their final three games. And now they've lost noted animal-lover and PETA spokesman Michael Vick for 12 to 60 months due to a self-inflicted injury. Vick will be replaced at QB by the lovable Joey Harrington, who won't throw for many touchdowns, but he won't be flipping off the home crowd/spreading herpes/killing dogs with his bare hands, either. The Falcons are going to need their defense to overachieve and RB Warrick Dunn to rush for 1,500+ yards just to avoid losing double-digit games...