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Collier Teens Save Pet From Bear Attack (FReeper's dog and kid involved).
WINK TV via SOUNDOFF ^ | 10-13-03 | Tim Wetzel

Posted on 10/13/2003 1:23:04 PM PDT by AAABEST

Golden Gate Estates -

Two Collier County teens had a frightening encounter when they were walking their dog. The sheltie -- named Sparkle -- got into a fight with black bear. The bear was guarding its cub and Sparkle wanted to guard his owners.

If the dog wouldn't have been there we would have probably walked right into the bear," said Matt Wojciechowski, 18. Matt and his brother were in the backyard when Sparkle began to bark, they then say the bear just feet away. "It was probably 8 feet tall, I've never seen one that big."

Sparkle and the bear soon when at it, but Sparkle wasn't much of a match. That's when Matt stepped in. "I went under and just grabbed my dog and threw him." Matt wasn't hurt -- he says he didn't even think of the danger. "I'm not going to let a bear kill my dog. All I was thinking about was getting my dog away and that's it," said Wojciechowski. The dog had more than 50 stitches and five bite wounds.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says this isn't the first they've heard of bears in the area; this year they've had about 300 complaints about bears in this neighborhood. Soon they are going to start handing out flyers warning neighbors of the danger.

Matt's grandmother is just happy the teens are safe. "Those boys getting that dog away from the bear could've turned into such a tragedy," said Chris Scarinzi. "I mean we feel bad for the dog but thank god the boys are ok that's the most important thing."

Fish and Wildlife officials say it's important to keep garbage and animal food away so bears aren't tempted to come close to homes and pets. The best thing to do if you see a bear, is to slowly back away.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Free Republic; Front Page News; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: attack; bear; collier; dog; florida; freeper; holdmuhbear; naples; rescue; tonywojo; wildlife
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To: AAABEST
How about this one?

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Fig. 1. Historical distribution of the American black bear (modified from Hall 1981).  

All our continent are belong to them.

21 posted on 10/13/2003 2:18:31 PM PDT by Carry_Okie (California: Where government is pornography every day!)
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To: AAABEST
Which map?

The one I linked for you in Post #11.

22 posted on 10/13/2003 2:20:05 PM PDT by Carry_Okie (California: Where government is pornography every day!)
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To: Carry_Okie
Oh yeah.

Well at least there's an area in the North Pole that doesn't seem to belong to the black bear, according to your map anyway.

I wonder if it would be ok with the eviros if we lived up there and ate snow.

23 posted on 10/13/2003 2:24:54 PM PDT by AAABEST
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To: Carry_Okie
All your bears are belong to us.
24 posted on 10/13/2003 2:26:16 PM PDT by Bon mots
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To: AAABEST
Close this window to return to the main article.

 
Fig. 2. Present distribution of the American black bear, based on survey responses from provinces and states (Pelton 1994) and research projects in Mexico (D. Doan, Texas A & I University, personal communication).  

25 posted on 10/13/2003 2:33:26 PM PDT by Carry_Okie (California: Where government is pornography every day!)
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To: AAABEST
Fast thinking by Matt! Shelties are great little dogs. I hope Sparkle recovers nicely and I'm glad everyone is okay. (What happened to big Mama and her cub?)
26 posted on 10/13/2003 2:35:41 PM PDT by arasina
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To: AAABEST
Well at least there's an area in the North Pole that doesn't seem to belong to the black bear, according to your map anyway.

I wonder if it would be ok with the eviros if we lived up there and ate snow.

Nope. That's already taken.

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Fig. 1. Outlines of the annual activity areas for one radio-collared polar bear (Ursus maritimus) monitored during 4 consecutive years. The boundaries of the multiyear activity area enclosed 517,000 km2 (about 200,000 mi2).  

27 posted on 10/13/2003 2:36:45 PM PDT by Carry_Okie (California: Where government is pornography every day!)
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To: Carry_Okie; sasquatch
You will note from the two maps for the black bear, that the animals now range on the Central Coast of California where they never were historically.

Maybe we need grizzlies to protect us from black bear invasions? I think they'd look cool cruising downtown Carmel, don't you?
28 posted on 10/13/2003 2:40:01 PM PDT by Carry_Okie (California: Where government is pornography every day!)
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To: Carry_Okie

29 posted on 10/13/2003 2:41:15 PM PDT by My Favorite Headache (On Sale October 21st...Rush In Rio. 3 cd's and 2 DVD Set. Buy it! Support both Rush's!)
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To: My Favorite Headache
How appropriate! A Trojan bear.
30 posted on 10/13/2003 2:44:29 PM PDT by Carry_Okie (California: Where government is pornography every day!)
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To: My Favorite Headache

31 posted on 10/13/2003 2:44:52 PM PDT by My Favorite Headache (On Sale October 21st...Rush In Rio. 3 cd's and 2 DVD Set. Buy it! Support both Rush's!)
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To: AAABEST
No shit dude...especially with friends like these...


32 posted on 10/13/2003 2:46:43 PM PDT by My Favorite Headache (On Sale October 21st...Rush In Rio. 3 cd's and 2 DVD Set. Buy it! Support both Rush's!)
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To: Carry_Okie
The California Grizzly was one of the largest and most aggressive subspecies of grizzly in the U.S., and there are numerous historical references to them killing and eating black bears. Since the California Grizzly was a lowland bear that preferred the scrublands, Central Valley, and foothills over the High Sierra's, I'd assume that they were pretty much the only thing keeping the black bears out of those areas.

In my experience, by the way, black bears are rather cowardly. I've run across countless blacks while hiking in the Sierras, and all but one have run at the first sight of me. The one bear that DID decide to charge me reconsidered it after I put a .45 in his side. Didn't kill it (right away anyway, I assume it probably died later), but it quickly abandoned its charge and make a run for the nearest underbrush.
33 posted on 10/13/2003 2:59:40 PM PDT by Arthalion
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To: Arthalion
The California Grizzly was one of the largest and most aggressive subspecies of grizzly in the U.S., and there are numerous historical references to them killing and eating black bears. Since the California Grizzly was a lowland bear that preferred the scrublands, Central Valley, and foothills over the High Sierra's, I'd assume that they were pretty much the only thing keeping the black bears out of those areas.

Precisely my inference.

In my experience, by the way, black bears are rather cowardly. I've run across countless blacks while hiking in the Sierras, and all but one have run at the first sight of me. The one bear that DID decide to charge me reconsidered it after I put a .45 in his side. Didn't kill it (right away anyway, I assume it probably died later), but it quickly abandoned its charge and make a run for the nearest underbrush.

Also correct (in word and deed :-), but try that in Yosemite and you will quickly learn what the real dangers in the woods really are.

34 posted on 10/13/2003 3:08:57 PM PDT by Carry_Okie (California: Where government is pornography every day!)
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To: AAABEST; TonyWojo
Kudos to your boy- guts like that are had to instill- you kind of have them or you don't- judgment-going hand to hand with an 8 foot bear- well, that comes with age...*grin*

Best wishes for the dog, congrats to the son, glad everything turned out more or less okay.

35 posted on 10/13/2003 4:27:06 PM PDT by fourdeuce82d
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To: Carry_Okie
I long for the good ole days when people could roam freely around the countryside. It took so many years to make this country safe for people and only a few to put us back in danger from animal predators again. I don't care what names anybody wants to call me, I hate predatory animals.
36 posted on 10/13/2003 5:35:43 PM PDT by WVNan
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To: WVNan
Even if we did want many of these animals back in their original habitat, the food chain is often so distorted by the introduction of exotic plants that such introduction is extremely unwise. There is a LOT of restoration work to be done first. It's like rebuilding a foundation; it comes before everything else.
37 posted on 10/13/2003 6:17:36 PM PDT by Carry_Okie (California: Where government is pornography every day!)
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To: Scenic Sounds
This is a doggie ping for you. ;-)
38 posted on 10/13/2003 8:01:10 PM PDT by Cathryn Crawford (Los vientos y la lluvia lo han lavado limpio.)
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To: Cathryn Crawford
Thanks. Cool story. Everyone did his/her job here - even mama bear.

Hope Sparkle heals quickly. ;-)

39 posted on 10/13/2003 8:06:27 PM PDT by Scenic Sounds (Sé esta vieja calle. Puede ser muy peligroso.)
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To: AAABEST
One of those mini-sheltie type collies.

The shetland sheepdog aka "sheltie" is a herding dog from the Shetland Isles. No relation to the Collie. Great family dogs, though they might "herd" you to death...

40 posted on 10/13/2003 8:17:24 PM PDT by stands2reason
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