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Good suggestion: Bears in Bear Valley
By David Hull

 

September 12, 2007
Wednesday PM


AT LAST!!! Someone with a sensible suggestion for the problem bears around town. What a concept! Bear proof garbage enclosures! Now doesn't this make a lot more sense than relocating these blameless creatures to bear heaven? I have no problem dispatching a bear posing a true threat to anyone, especially children, but I have never seen that kind of aggressiveness in the time I have lived in Bear Valley which dates back to way before the new section of Ferry Chasm housing was built.

I got all the Christmas trees the first several years my family lived there by simply walking past the end of Brown Deer Road into the wooded area. I encountered several bears in those explorations of the valley wilderness. NEVER did I have one challenge me. It is not the bear's fault they are hungry. It is entirely our fault, mine included, for providing a fast food menu for them each year. Why should they look elsewhere?
Teach your kids what to do if they encounter a bear walking to school. It should be an exhilarating experience for them like it would be watching a whale swim in the channel. You have to be careful watching whales in a boat, why should watching bears in a residential area be any different or less pleasurable? Do you tell your kids the bears will be killed when the men come to trap them and take them away? What would they think? What did you think happened to them?

For those who remember, much of the increase in bear traffic began after the City quit the open pit landfill business and invested in a more environmentally sensitive disposal system. I would take this suggestion one step further by asking the City to help those who need it to bear proof their garbage. It is not the garbage man's job to clean up after us. It is no more their fault than it is the bear's.

Thank you, Julie Steiner, for the best bet yet to curb the mess in Bear Valley. I am going to investigate this possibility today.

David Hull
Ketchikan, AK

Received September 12, 2007 - Published September 12, 2007

About: "28 year Bear Valley resident. I'm not a Bear fan either..... I like the Seahawks."

Related Viewpoint:

letter Bears in Bear Valley By Julie Steiner - Ketchikan, AK

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