Posted on 01/05/2006 10:18:29 AM PST by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin
MILTON, Fla. -- A sheriff's deputy got a shock when a bear came toward him as he searched for a prowler. So he gave the bear a shock with his Taser. Homeowner Charlie McQueen Smith called Escambia County deputies Tuesday night after finding her air conditioner torn from her kitchen window. Deputy Ray Dykes thought he was looking for a prowler.
"When I pulled up, I saw the reflection of an animal's eyes. It looked like a little bear cub," he said. "I got to about 40 feet and it stood up, and that's when I knew it was fully grown." Dykes used his Taser gun when the bear got too close. "He was about seven or eight feet away when I shocked him," he said. The bear fell to the ground, breaking the connection with the weapon, which administers a strong electrical charge. The animal fled into the woods and disappeared.
Smith said she's lived in the home since it was built in 1960 and had never seen a bear there before Friday. The bear showed up then and visited several times over the weekend. Smith suspects the smell of fried chicken might have enticed it to try and come inside. A trash pit near the home might also have been a lure, officials said. If the animal returns, the Florida Wildlife Commission will likely capture and relocate it, said commission biologist Pat Bowman. "Between the Taser shock and the garbage removal, I would like to think this bear is going to stay away," she said.
Black bears are protected by state law.
Information from: Pensacola News Journal
"A trash pit near the home might also have been a lure,"
Duh. Get rid of the trash pit, lady.
Only YOU can prevent Bear fires (sparks are optional).
> Taser scared a bear away. Maybe hikers need to carry those.
I wonder if Tasers are prohibited most places where firearms are.
Anyone who hikes unarmed in bear country is food.
Normal debate over .44 Mag vs .500 Mag may now commence :-)
illegal for a civilian to posess a Taser in Michigan .........I know this because when I gave up my FFL (Clinton changed the rules for FFL) I had to sell the one I had ......a Police Officer friend bought it .........don't know about other states
I talked to my neighbor about it and he told me that the bear (which had a tag in each ear, meaning he was a "problem bear" that had been darted, tagged and relocated twice) had been out in his back yard a few nights before.
I asked him if he'd tried to scare it away by shooting a gun, and he told me that he'd fired his .44 magnum into the ground and the bear just looked up from his garbage can for a few seconds, and then ignored him. (No doubt he'd had other people try to frighten him with a gun, and figured that all they did was make noise.)
He went back inside and got a string of firecrackers and lit the whole string off and tossed it under the bear's feet.
Nobody's seen that damn bear since.
This is tough to swallow. I doubt the Taser electrodes could penetrate the fur to the point that they would contact the bear's hide.
I know. "Mine is bigger than yours."
I never carry anything greater than a .357 while in the Blue Ridge Mountains here in Western NC, or when we lived in CO.
Typical backcountry bears maintain a fear of humans and therefore generally run away. The ones who have lost their fear (thru garbage eating, etc) are the ones to worry about. I only worry about grizzly and only if in an area where they are. Hiker bells are dinner bells to them.
You must not have noticed the hair on those gang members in East LA.
Yeah.
Except in cases of overpopulation, killing bears and other critters is not the goal - conditioning them to be afraid of man again is.
Definite possibilities.
That would lure me! ! !
He's lucky the bear didn't get mad.
Illegal to own a Taser in Michigan? Where else is it illegal? Must be an effective weapon if they've made it illegal.
"Duh. Get rid of the trash pit, lady."
Uh - have you been in Milton, or much of the Panhandle? often garbage service is rudamentary at best.
The bottom line is that whenever a alrge bodied predator begins to either attack livestock or break into or otherwise endanger humans, the only known cure is to either remove from the wild that predator or kill it.
Thre guesses which works beter and is cheaper?
One guess as to what Agencypersons in the large bodied predator business want to force the public to do.
Hint: Their choice IS a violation of your inalienable right to protect your life and property.
They only need to be within 1/5 inches of the skin to work. Penetration is nice, but not required.
wow this thread is over a year old. How'd it get started again?
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