29 July 2013

Self-Defense, Bears, and Volcanoes

There's an article in this morning's paper about the recent change to our self-defense laws, which provided the right to defend yourself in "any place a person has a right to be".

Of course, the assorted media wonks christened it "Alaska's stand your ground law".

The article wobbles between a reasonable accounting of what it actually means and oh-my-god-we're-all-gonna-die-in-a-hail-of-bullets. This struck me as a bit strange, given the article's byline is Fairbanks ... until I saw that it's from the Associated Press.

So ... probably not an Alaskan 'reporter'. Never mind, then.

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Anchorage is seeing an upswing in the number of black bears wandering through residential neighborhoods.

ANCHORAGE - Alaska is bear country, so chances are you are going to see one. But what you don't want to see is a bear in your yard or even in your house. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game have been seeing an uptick in that type of black bear behavior these last few weeks.

"I saw three just yesterday. I was mowing up on the hill," said Rick Cramer, general manager of the Hilltop Ski Area. "They belong in the woods. We are the visitors so we need to make sure we don't scare them. We don't leave food for them."

... "Our conflicts revolve around black bears and trash that's been stored inappropriately or left out negligently around people's houses or businesses," said Jessy Coltrane, a biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
 Read the whole article with a video at the link.

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Those of you interested in volcanoes and plate tectonics may be interested to see the video, here, on "How Volcanoes Shaped (Alaska)".

7 comments:

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Do any of the bears have a drinking problem?

http://kdvr.com/2013/07/24/black-bear-walks-into-bar-in-estes-park-video/

Rev. Paul said...

I wouldn't be surprised. :)

Anonymous said...

Oh My!

gfa

Old NFO said...

LOL, somebody phoned that one in...

Rev. Paul said...

Guffaw, I didn't even think about the title ... should have been Self-Defense, Volcanoes & Bear, no?

NFO, you betcha!

Sandy Livesay said...

Rev. Paul,
The AP, that explains everything!
Associated Press, NY Times, Washington Post......all of these don't report the news, they just go out into left field and say what ever gets them ratings.

I'm wondering if someone in the local area has been providing food to the bears? This could be bringing them into town. They don't have to work to get the food, it's easy and accessible.

Rev. Paul said...

Sandy, re: the AP, agreed.

Re: the bears ... the Dept of Fish & Game says there's too much unsecured trash in the residential neighborhoods affected, and people aren't being careful about how it's stored.