At about 3 p.m. on Wednesday, I was five feet away from a wild black bear. I locked eyes with this magnificent creature and for me time stopped. It was the ultimate poem unwritten and most beautiful song unsung. And in one word, WOW!
He did not attack me or my 4-year-old niece Jia bella. I felt confident this was not a possibility. I also felt confident the officials of our state would not harm this animal. I was wrong. This bear has been down to our local cities twice and has never hurt a single soul or thing.
They always returned him deep into the wild. However for some reason he came back. I had the honor to be graced with his presence and he was tortured in front of me. He ran up the tallest tree in my neighbor's vacant yard as soon as a man hopped our fence to get closer to him. The bear had made it almost to the very top of the tree when a tranquilizer gun was handed to the man. After the first shot, 10 minutes went by and then the travesty occurred. When an uncountable amount of tranquilizers were fired into the animal, a few minutes later the bear fell about two stories from the tree and hit the ground so hard that it made an echo.
The officials around me told me that he would just bounce right off the ground and that he would be OK. I watched in shock as he fell and literally bounced off the ground with no reflex and didn't get back up. He lifted his head once and I felt as though he was looking at me for help, it was as if he was asking me why? After they hauled him away, I found out that they were going to euthanize him all along.
I am appalled with the inhumanity that occurred on that day. There is nothing I wouldn't do to help any animal in need. Everyone says he could have killed you, but I say he could have but he didn't even try.
I feel as though I should have done something more. They wrote that he was a nuisance for coming into our city to justify what they did and then tried to make themselves sound better by saying we release more bears than we euthanize. Correct me if I am wrong, but animals were here before we were and now that their food supply has been shortened and the skies are thick with smoke from fires in different states, how do we have the nerve to call him a nuisance? The professionals who made these decisions, need to be reassessed and evaluated.
I won't be able to live with myself if I don't attempt to make a change on behalf of the bear that died with no justification. Animal cruelty has become a decision for amusement purposes. I can't stop all of it but maybe this time you can help me leave a dent.