Posted on 04/14/2006 6:52:17 AM PDT by george76
Authorities hunted Friday for a black bear that picked up a 2-year-old boy in its mouth and mauled his mother, critically injuring them before killing the child's 6-year-old sister.
Witnesses told authorities the bear picked up the boy in its mouth while the mother and other visitors tried to fend it off with sticks and rocks, said Dan Hicks, a spokesman for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.
When the bear attacked, the girl ran away, authorities said. Rescuers found the girl's body about 100 yards down the trail from the falls.
A bear was standing over her.
"Allegedly, after the rescue squad found the little girl, one of the squad members fired a shot from a small caliber handgun," Hicks said Friday.
"We don't know whether the bear was hit or not. There was no blood, but it chased it off."
In May 2000, a woman was killed by a black bear near Gatlinburg.
Glena Ann Bradley, a schoolteacher from Cosby, was attacked by two female bears when she took a walk on a trail near a Smoky Mountains campground.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I remember when the Humane Society of the U.S. sponsored and pushed all the ballot initiatives that banned hunting with hounds and bait (for bears and cougars) out west. I wrote a lot of articles about it.
The HSUS was the primary backer of those ballot initiatives. A lot of people think the HSUS is a good organization that helps cats and dogs, but the truth is they don't do squat for domestic animals. And they finance and lobby for legislation that seeks to outlaw hunting, specific methods of hunting, and end medical research on animals,etc.
Remember right after those laws were passed there was a hiker (a woman) who was mauled to death by a big cat somewhere out there and the animal rights freaks raised a bunch of money for the cat's kittens, whereas they had no sympathy for the woman killed or her children.
Most people today have no exposure to wildlife and nature, so they believe what Disney channel and animal rights activists tell them, that animals are all sweet and pure, and they all dance around in harmony in the forest.
If most people knew what the HSUS and other AR organizations stood for, they'd quit sending them money.
We rehab abandoned bear cubs. They DO NOT eat meat when their NATURAL food source is in good supply.
You are absolutely right about this bear probably being old or he may have something else wrong with him that will show up when his body is examined.
I get sooooo tired of people reading bear stories and lumping ALL bears into the same category.
Polar bears and Grizzlies are the meat eaters. Black bears are not.
They did away with the Spring bear hunt in Colorado because too many lactating females were being killed and leaving cubs to starve to death.
I wasn't trying to be a jerk, but its a fact that black bears are a predator that hunts and kills anything it can catch easily, that includes moose calves and PEOPLE !
Here in Colorado during mild winters, the bears stay active all winter.
Could be. We had a mild winter here.
Thanks. I know that I sounded callous in my first post, but it wasn't that I had no sympathy for the mom and children. My heart broke for them and their entire family. I didn't think I had to express it; I thought everyone assumed we here at FR have a heart. I wrote the post because I never did understand why, after such a tragic event, was a hunt on for the animal. After some knowledgable FReepers explained that bears should not attack, I understood and learned something.
Did you guys see this?
I just picked it up on another site I frequent. Guess this makes the point we've been trying to make huh?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1616659/posts
Indeed.... good to have those guys around!
I am, indeed, interested in Tennessee, Kentucky (territories) Texas (as the Mexican holding), the Carolinas, Georgia, Virginia, as the American explorers and pioneers from these states largely shaped California into an American paradise for so many years. Any Californian that enjoyed this state's bounty of American values and culture in the twentieth century need to thank Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone, Sam Houston, that set in motion the westward movement of American culture. You guys taught us to fight, hunt and fish, and stand on our own feet, and it's good to see you still doing it.
WOW, thanks.
Ironically, my ancestors were in eastern Tennessee, inhabited the same county here that Davy Crocket was born and lived in. They hunted and fished along the banks of the Nolichucky River, where Davy Crocket did.
There's still a lot of bear hunters here, and they value their hounds. I've seen hounds sell for $10,000.
My grandmother used to tell me stories about her brothers and uncles hunting on their land, and surrounding land, which is now part of the Cherokee National Forest.
My ancestor settled in Greene County, on a land grant he received for service in the Revolutionary War. At one time this county was part of North Carolina. It is located up on the N.C/Tennessee border. It was also the home of President Andrew Johnson.
My ancestor settled in Greene County, on a land grant he received for service in the Revolutionary War. At one time this county was part of North Carolina.
Because of your ancestor, you and I have a representative in Congress, rather than none in Parliament. Because of Sam Houston I am typing in English rather than Spanish. Because of what the Jamestown colony Virginians learned my paycheck comes from a private individual rather than the state, any your tradition and value of hounds is decided by those Tennessee citizens participating in their chosen avocation. And because North Carolina was unable to properly assist the citizens of the Tennessee territory, Tennesseans themselves fought for and created the great state of Tennessee (and Franklin).
In the Superior National Forest in northern Minnesota, it's legal to carry firearms at any time and for any purpose (recreational shooting, hunting, protection, etc.)
All of the state's hunting and fishing laws apply throughout the national forest and it's open to public use.
Awesome - I need to move...;-)
Boy, you know your history. My ancestors were also there when the State of Franklin was established, in what is now Greene County, TN.
And when Andrew Johnson "the Constitution President," was brought up on articles of impeachment. He is buried in Greeneville, his homeplace, tailor shop and burial site national Historical Sites now. He was buried with his head on a copy of the Constitution, see details here : http://www.nps.gov/anjo/
I have a copy of the bill my ancestor presented to the Union officers when they used our old homeplace as a headquarters. Greeneville changed hands between the Union and Confederate military nine times during the Civil War, and a confederate soldier was shot and killed on the porch of our old homeplace.
I have details about my great grandfather (when he was six years old)shooting a hole in the wall and barely missing my grandma's aunt's head, when he was going to "kill him a confederate." My grandmother and great aunts and uncles told me these stories passed on to them from their father, aunt and uncles.
John Hunt Morgan, the famous Confederate general, known as "The Thunderbolt of the Confederacy" was killed in Greeneville, after he became a legend for escaping the Union Army and a Union prison several times. He was unstoppable, until a Greeneville family hosted him and their daughter-in-law, a Union sympathiser, sent word to a nearby Union detachment and they ambushed him.
They paraded his body up and down Main Street Greeneville, draped over his prized Kentucky horse.
Greeneville is the true symbol of the war that "turned brother against brother."
I had ancestors on both sides, who fought passionately for their beliefs.
And I mentioned earlier the prized hounds they use for bear hunting here -- there are still lines of hounds here used by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, they were some of the first to import these hounds from Europe.
I have written extensively about the bear hunting and bear hounds here. It's (can't you tell) one of my favorite subjects.
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