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Thursday, August 04, 2005

What the HELL is WRONG with people???!!!

I am absolutely FED UP with humans. How dare they run around thinking they can play God just because they have a Ranger Rick badge. Do they have some sort of magic hand that gives them power of authority to determine when a wild beast's life will end simpy because they don't approve of the beast acting like a beast? What gives us the right to make up the laws regarding other species? The are not lesser beings than us, they are equal and we live in their universe.

Here we have a bunch of stupid campers, who are camping in the WOODS – where BEARS LIVE.

The Woods - That is the home of the bear. That is where they are. If you don’t want to encounter them, don’t go there. And for God’s sake, DO NOT LEAVE YOUR BACKPACK OUT FOR THEM.

The Backpack – A bag type device that we ourselves have taught the bear, may represent the presence of food. The bear did not know about the backpack until we introduced them to it and all the wonderful Scooby snacks inside. We are told to tie our backpacks up high when we camp, but even still, when you trespass onto bear territory, there is no guarantee that the bear will follow the “rules” and leave it alone.

The Camper – Contrary to popular belief, all campers do come with brains, although not all choose to use it. It is a voluntary action on the part of the camper to put him or herself inside bear territory. The bear does not invite him to come. The bear does not trick him into setting up camp. The bear, aside from scoring on some Scooby snacks from time to time, does not want the camper in his woods. The camper choices on his own free will to embark on such ventures that may involve potential bear encounters. And it is common knowledge that if you eat food while camping in bear infested woods, you may in fact, attract the bear.

The Wildlife Authorities – I have no idea what these guys are supposed to stand for, cause they sure as hell aren’t on the side of wildlife. No, they are there to bring down the wrath of God - also know as the law - upon any furry creature, great or small, that steps on the toes of a human. God help you if you are a member of the animal kingdom. You don’t want these guys anywhere around you. Why? Well let’s just say you are a bear…

The Bear – Imagine your bad self just strutting along, mind’n your own bidness, when you come across a bunch of sleeping campers. You see a backpack and some other cool stuff that kind of resemble something that might contain food and you take a little chomp out of it. But sadly to your disappointment, it isn’t full of Scooby snacks after all. You try one more little bite to make sure, and yup, sure enough, it’s a human leg. Then you get screamed at by the body that is attached to the leg, scaring the bajeebers out of ya, but you play it cool because you didn’t bite very hard at all, and move on to the next thing that smells good - cause after all, you are four times the size of the screaming idiot, and the other idiots in the tree with the video camera aren’t exactly threatening - yeah, they thought you didn't see 'em sittin up there. But then the next day you find yourself being framed by authorities for some hideous crime that the even campers themselves denied being even remotely terrible, and you are hunted down because of the bald spot on your butt, trapped, and then shot to death. All because you acted totally natural for the species that you are and were only walking through your own back yard when you thought you smelled some goodies. The only mistake you made is not killing the entire group of campers because then nobody could have told on you for accidentally causing a welt on something you didn’t even want to eat in the first place.

So here we have a story about precisely this:

A group of hikers rolled videotape and took photographs as a bear entered their camp at High Point State Park and bit a sleeping counselor, New Jersey wildlife authorities said yesterday as they continued to investigate the incident.

-Cause we all know taking videotape and pictures is more important than protecting your friend.

The 19-year-old Pennsylvania counselor, camping with about five other hikers along the Appalachian Trail, suffered raised welts on his left thigh when the 142-pound female bear bit into his sleeping bag around 6:30 a.m. on July 13, authorities said.

-Wait. Raised welts? As in, did not break the skin? Bad bear badddd. What kind of horrible beast are you??

Martin McHugh, director of the state Division of Fish and Wildlife, said yesterday that wildlife officials were disturbed by the behavior of the hikers, the boldness of the bear and the fact that the incident was not reported to his office until July 21. It was not until last week that a trap was set at the campsite for the bear, which was captured and killed Friday.

-Behavior of the hikers, yes. Atrocious. Boldness of the bear? You’ve never heard of a bear walking into a campsite before? What’s that? Not “your” bears? Oh. Okay.

"As soon as the bear entered the camp, the counselors or those in charge should have taken measures to scare it off and not just take photographs and videotape it," said Larry Herrighty, chief of the division's Bureau of Wildlife Management.

-But let’s not forget the BEAR is the bad guy here folks because if the campers had just scared it away the authorities might not have had to get all medieval on it's ass... After all, she was doing bear type things and that’s not acceptable, especially from a bear.

The counselor declined medical attention, and the hikers downplayed the bear encounter when they reported it to park rangers, he said.

-No medical attention to a welt? You mean you didn’t loose the leg? You didn’t DIE? Wow. What a surprise. And to downplay such an encounter when you weren’t seriously hurt, what are you trying to say? That maybe the bear was not acting viciously?

McHugh added that park employees also "didn't really grasp the seriousness of the incident" because they delayed notifying wildlife authorities for about a week.

- Oh but hey, thanks for trying to convince everybody that a welt inflicting bear is was more serious than we all thought.

Herrighty said his office launched a probe after seeing a photograph that the hikers had faxed to park employees on July 14. Authorities shut the campsite area as they tried to contact the hikers, whom they identified only as Pennsylvania residents.

-Because a faxed picture of a bear inside a campsite is so unusual, not to mention the GREAT quality of faxed pictures. But at least they could identify the bear as a member of the woods.

By early last week, authorities said they obtained enough interviews and videotape to learn that the bitten counselor was lying in a sleeping bag on a tarp, in open air, along with two other teens when the bear entered the camp. Other hikers watched and photographed the bear from a wooden shelter about 30 yards away as it approached their sleeping friends.

- “Enough interviews and videotape”? Perhaps it wasn’t enough for the counselor to just SAY he was lying in a sleeping bag; we all know that’s way to embarrassing to admit… Especially when you’re, like, camping and all. And out in the open air of all things. Hey, thanks for making it even easier for the bear to find to you. OH and by the way, if I may reiterate, nice friends you have. Nice "30 yards away in a wooden shelter" friends.

The bear at first sniffed a water bottle next to the sleeping counselor, then it bit the counselor's sleeping bag and briefly dragged the counselor. The counselor woke up, and both he and the bear were startled, but the bear bit the bag a second time, authorities said.

- She, the bear with all the sharp teeth, bit hard enough to cause a welt. What a bad bear. And a startled animal has never been known to react with it’s mouth. Funny, even the startled induced second bite didn’t break the skin… But how dare she double dip! Next time, try not to look so much like a great big backpack and maybe you won't get 'briefly dragged' either.

At that point, the hikers yelled at the bear, but it remained and investigated a food locker before grabbing a backpack and leaving. Herrighty said the bear showed no signs of fear.

- Fear? Why would a 142-lb BEAR be afraid of a bunch of yelling idiots? Geez, with a food locker in sight and a backpack within reach, why would she want to leave? “Hungry as a bear”, remember?

State biologists knew they captured the right bear on Friday because it had distinguishing marks, including a bald spot on its hind quarters.

-Yeah, cause there can’t possibly be another bear in the Appalachian Trail with marks and a bare butt.

End Article.

So by shooting this bear, they hope to what… make her an example to all the other bears out there? Maybe that’ll teach them the next time they try acting like a bear in their own woods while there are campers around. Maybe they will have learned a lesson from all of this... Because you know, after all the times bears have invaded campsites, humans have not learned theirs.

Perhaps if we just set up invisible fences around all the campsites and then strap invisible collars around all the bears they will not cross over. How dare they not know to just ‘stay away’. Let’s just hope this bear wasn’t somebody’s mom who's looking for her right now.

Once I wanted to work for the Wildlife Authorities. Not anymore. I don't need no stink'n badge.
Abi, I did it!

I GOT MY CAMERA!!!!!!!

At 6:00pm yesterday evening, I came home with my very first digital. And it isn't just any digital. It is the amazing Canon D20!!

I saved for an entire year for it and now it's mine. It's no longer a picture on the monitor, or a print out on my desk, or an image in my brain. It's real, it's in my hands now, and it's mine. All. Mine.

I have a lot A LOT of reading and learning to do and may even throw myself into one of the 3-hour classes offered by the camera shop specifically for Canon cameras. Last night I started reading the manual and about an hour later I finally got to 'how to take a picture'. I wish there was a way to hook a cable up and just suck all the information out of the book into my brain. That would kick ass. But alas, it is not so. All the others had to learn from experience, and so will I. The capability of this little guy is, simply put, just too impressive and will take me a lifetime to master - but I will. Mark my words.

Now we're cookin folks. This is a great day for me. This is the piece of professional equipment that marks a new beginning for me. The amount of information that I will learn from the D20 and all the photo software it came with will set me on my way to a promising future in... something. Not to mention all the money I will save by not having to buy film or film developing; this digital will pay for itself soon enough...

I will still, however, never give up nor will I stop using my 35mm as I lurve it so. Oh dear Rebel, you are not forgotten. But when I found out Art Wolfe finally went digital, I knew it was safe for me to follow.
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