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| Chat - Friday December 16, 2011; Hello Eagle Friends | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Dec 16 2011, 04:47 AM (868 Views) | |
| cdn-cdn | Dec 16 2011, 07:03 PM Post #31 |
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Eagle Guardian
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Celine's song is so lovely and meaningful. I'm so glad that you shared it with Kris, Penny. I hadn't read the words to the song before.I've enjoyed all the family stories today ... Karen and Jim's first Christmas, Siobhan's visitor and new friend, and the stories of the Hannukah bush, palm tree and gifts by Carole and Penny.Both my MIL and FIL perked up to see the dogs. Mia wanted loose to explore the entire place. Wynn just relaxed on the carpet. We were in a little sitting room with a fireplace. People were going by in walkers and being transported in their wheelchairs by family members. Everybody seemed interested in them. Wow, so cool to see K-82 so close. She is a beauty. Thanks, Carole! |
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| Deleted User | Dec 16 2011, 08:07 PM Post #32 |
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![]() A VERY HAPPY ANNIVERSARY KAREN AND JIM AND WISHING YOU MANY MORE ![]() KRIS - SO SORRY FOR THE LOSS OF YOUR BROTHER TOO SOON! MAY YOU BE COMFORTED! |
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| Deleted User | Dec 16 2011, 08:22 PM Post #33 |
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Deleted User
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A GOOD EVENING TO ALL - DEB - CAROLE - CHERYL - KARENSC - TOPA - KRIS - PENNY Deb - Loved the slides / Hope you enjoyed david letterman show Carole - Love the feisty red tail / enjoyed the Hannakuh bush story! Beautiful K82! Cheryl - cute graphic / HOpe whoopers will make it / So nice to get new furniture and carpet! / Mia and Wynn /Glad they had a good visit with your MIL!Penny - nice graphic / Siobhan After 11PM here so signing out / Am exhausted / Started off a good day but ended in "stop the world I want to get off." |
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| Artsy Mom | Dec 16 2011, 08:29 PM Post #34 |
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Eagle Guardian
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Lily the Black Bear - Update December 16, 2011 Education, Education, Education ![]() Pensive Lily before becoming famous Will we be able to spread the word and educate enough people about bears in our lifetimes? Including decision-makers? This story shows the need. We have been following the story of Allen Piche who has been quietly feeding bears near Christina Lake, BC, for 25 years and who was recently arrested, tried, and is awaiting sentencing for feeding bears. We know the notion of feeding bears is controversial. People have spent their careers teaching that feeding bears is always wrong—that a fed bear is a dead bear—based on what? We know where that saying comes from. There are plenty of examples of food leading bears into trouble—especially in campground and national parks. But around rural communities, data show that food can just as easily lead bears out of trouble. But it’s a relatively new idea and still at the stage where people laugh at it. You know the old saying about new ideas—first people laugh, then they think, and then they say of course—or something like that. Duffy - the Gentle Giant Allen Piche enjoyed feeding bears for 25 years. According to testimony in the trial, there were no unusual problems in a nearby populated area (2 miles away) called Christina Lake. Authorities arrested Allen and told him to stop feeding. Bears showed up at Christina Lake and 18 were shot. This is more bears than usual. The usual number is a half dozen or less. So the conclusion would be that Allen’s bears were so used to being fed that they couldn’t make a living on their own and went over to Christina Lake to see what they could find because they had forgotten how to forage naturally. Right? Wrong. After officials made sure what they thought were fed bears were surely dead bears by shooting 18 of them, Allen’s bears checked and re-checked his place for food. Allen photographed them for the record. He accounted for 20 of his 24 bears and the remaining 4 (Shy, Boothy, Tuffy, and Bouncer) had left early in the summer. Maybe they will show up and maybe not. Maybe they were among the 18. Allen continued to give a little food to bears that showed up. He advocated putting food elsewhere to draw them away from his place if authorities didn’t want him feeding them where they were used to it, but they wouldn’t do that and concentrated on shooting bears at Christina Lake. Undercover officers posed as photographers and came to Allen’s place to take pictures. Allen helped them by putting a little food here and there to hold the bears in picturesque spots. They re-arrested him. With the data coming together these days, Allen Piche is the one with data on his side. The officials had no data to support their beliefs and actions—only the usual untested assumptions about bear behavior. But that was enough for them to win in court. They have the degrees and official titles. Allen is not a biologist and has only his 25 years experience with bears and his observations of the minimal bear problems in his area to go by. The only major problems occurred after the Ministry of Natural Resources gave their heavy-handed and uninformed order to stop feeding. Gentle Jo with calm eyes There has to be something else going on here. Lily fans might be able to tell us. If we were to guess, natural food was probably scarce in that part of British Columbia this past summer. That probably led to more bears than usual showing up in populated area to eat garbage, birdseed, apple trees, etc. Authorities probably saw the increase in problems in Christina Lake, which probably were happening in other areas, too, and blamed the bear problems on Allen Piche. Instead of thanking him for doing diversionary feeding that is especially important for keeping bears out of trouble in a year of scarce natural food, they blamed him for any bear problems in the area and shut him down. But even then, his bears didn’t look in Christina Lake for food. They kept coming back to Allen’s proven place. Allen had a heart. He saw their hunger and gave them a little. Authorities held to their beliefs that feeding creates nuisance bears and that Allen was responsible for the problems in Christina Lake, so they arrested him again. Allen is awaiting sentencing. Education about the true nature of black bears and about what creates bear-human conflict and what can prevent it can save so many bears. The same principles undoubtedly apply to bears around the world. It is hard to get past the untested assumptions that have been the basis for professional bear management for so long. It is hard to get past the exaggerated fear that drives liability concerns and leads to so many bears being killed unnecessarily. It is hard for most people to see black bears for what they are—basically shy animals trying to make a living while staying out of trouble. Not demons. Not the angry beasts of magazine covers and TV programs. Just the bears that we have come to know and understand in our 45 years of research. If bears behaved the way many experts and the media say they do, we could not have done what we have done with them these several decades, and the residents of Eagles Nest Community would not have continued feeding and befriending them for a half century. What can we do to better show the world what black bears are really like? How can we get close-minded people to be objective and look at data instead of clinging to their fear-based beliefs and agencies basing decisions on an exaggerated fear of liability problems? How can we achieve a sea-change in attitude that would allow people to see these animals without irrational fear and see them for what they really are? Lily fans are helping with that. Thank you for all you do. —Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center |
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| jillers | Dec 16 2011, 08:29 PM Post #35 |
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Eagle Guardian
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Night Carol Sleep well Hope tomorrow is a better day for you!
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| circlescribe | Dec 17 2011, 02:19 AM Post #36 |
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Eagle Guardian
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Carole, Cheryl, Carol, and Penny, thank you for your words of condolence for Erik. The words to the Celine Dion song were so lovely. Thank you Penny (Because of the time difference I couldn't get back until now) He was such a dear pure soul and it was unforgivable what happened to him.
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is so lovely and meaningful. I'm so glad that you shared it with
and the stories of the Hannukah bush, palm tree and gifts by





/Glad they had a good visit with your MIL!




Sleep well
Hope tomorrow is a better day for you!
The words to the Celine Dion song were so lovely.
(Because of the time difference I couldn't get back until now) He was such a dear pure soul and it was unforgivable what happened to him.
8:52 AM Jul 13