LETTER: Don’t blame bear for attack on scout leader

I’m writing to express my opinion on the recent “bear attack” in Split Rock Resevior in Rockaway.

First, the media makes it sound like the scout leader was just walking along and the bear ran up and attacked him. That’s not what happened. The scout leader went into the cave and the bear was hibernating and then attacked him. What would you do if someone was breaking into your home? You’d probably attack them and try to defend yourself. Well that’s exactly what the bear was doing.

Also, the scout leader should have known better; you’re in the woods, there are bears around, and it’s hibernation time; they den between November and April. They usually choose caves, rock crevices or downed logs to hibernate in. For the scout leader to enter the cave was not very smart and in poor judgment. And the scouts also had food with them. That’s a no-no too, even though they used the food to lure the bear out of the cave to save their leader. You shouldn’t carry food with you when hiking in the woods, it attracts the bears. Bears have an extremely keen sense of smell which could cause a bear to attack someone carrying food. The scouts learned first-hand what could happen if you go into a cave in bear country. There could be a bear in there.

Now after reading the papers and watching the news reports on TV, some people are thinking, oh my God, a bear attack. We need to kill more bears, extend the hunt, there’s too many, they’re dangerous. This was definitely an incident where a human caused the attack. A spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection said state wildlife officials believe the bear was protecting its hibernation location and that the officials don’t believe the bear is a threat and won’t try to capture it. I’m glad they made the right decision to leave the bear alone.

The scout leader’s actions of entering the cave are the reason the bear attacked. Bears aren’t the real problem. People are and they need to be educated and learn how to coexist with bears.

For more information and educational presentations on how to coexist with bears, visit www.savenjbears.com. Learn to live in harmony with nature.

Beverly Maline

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