[Virginia Ridgerunner]

The instructors sent these teenage boys out into the Alaska wilderness alone without any firearms with which to defend themselves against angry grizzlies.

[WayneS]

Did they have any cowbell?

[americanophile]

Regardless of whose “fault” it was, prayers up for the boy that was mauled and the others that were injured. A grizzly mauling is a grievous injury.

[ZULU]

See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard#Nature

“While protected, anyone outside of settlements is required to carry a rifle to kill polar bears in self defense, as a last resort, should they attack.[99]”

THIS in a Norweigan controlled island heavily populated with polar bears. While polar bears are more carnivorous than grizzlies, the potential danger element from grizziles is as substantial as that from polar bears.

ANYONE traveling in grizzly country should be allowed, if not REQUIRED, to be armed, and have sufficient familiarity with that weapon to employ it effectively.

Its PAST time to take America back from the eco-lunatics who think livestock killing wolves and coyotes, human threatening cougars and black bears, and collision-causing, tick-infested, crop munching deer, are desirable and cute residents in populated areas.

[Cheetahcat]

Start shooting the Damn things, to the point where they run for their lives at the sight of a human.

[Petruchio]

How to survive in Bear Country:

Rule 1 - Carry adequate firepower.

Rule 2 - When hiking, let someone else go first.

Rule 3 - When running for your life, make sure someone else runs slower . . .

[2nd Amendment]

When I lived near Yellowstone, I always carried a .44 S&W 629 with me. It was easier to fight off a ranger than an enraged grizzly bear. One year they put the remains of a Swiss tourist in a baggie after a griz attack.

[Ronaldus Magnus]

Saturday's bear attack is only the second in the school's history, and the only mauling involving a grizzly, Palmer said. In 2003, a black bear wandered into a camp in Utah and bit a student, he said.

Unarmed teenagers shouldn't be sent out to fend for themselves in the middle of a larger food chain. The officers and instructors of the company organizing these expeditions should face criminal prosecution for reckless endangerment. The parents are idiots who should know not to feed the bears (with their own children!).

[Moltke]

Was this course held by the Timothy Treadwell School of Wilderness Survival?

[Lees Swrd]

I own a double barrel derringer called an Alaskan Survival 45colt - 410 bottom barrel 45/70 upper barrel from the damage it does to my had to fire it I am sure it would stop a bear!