July 26, 2006

Sometimes You Get the Bear, and Sometimes the Bear Gets You

Thinking about terrorists and Hizbollah, I found this item from Switzerland to be amusing:

The "Bear Strategy", published on Tuesday, maintains that bears and humans can co-exist peacefully but enables regional authorities to shoot-to-kill if public safety is threatened.

The strategy document was widely criticised by mountain communities, hunters and farmers when it was put out for consultation earlier this year.

They said the federal authorities needed to make it easier to shoot troublesome animals – and the government has now taken on board their concerns.

The new guidelines, which will be issued to cantons shortly, stress that "public safety is paramount".

Bears will now fall into three categories: "unobtrusive", "problematic" and "high-risk". A bear can be killed once it becomes "high-risk": if it is no longer scared of humans despite efforts to scare it off and if it has become aggressive towards them.

Too bad we expect more of bears than we do of some people.

Posted by Charles Austin at July 26, 2006 11:34 PM
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