This is when you know you're having a bad day

[kwame k]

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado - A pregnant woman who was fleeing a bear when she was struck by a slow-moving car said she would honor the euthanized animal by giving her baby the middle name "Bear."

Ashley Swendsen, 26, said she thought the bear followed her more out of curiosity than malice because it kept a distance of about 10 feet Thursday morning on a hiking trail in northwestern Colorado Springs.

As she ran, she thought, "If it was going to hurt me, it already would have."

Swendsen managed to scramble up an embankment and was crossing the street when she was hit by a slow-moving car. Although she was not seriously injured, she was taken to a hospital as a precaution because she was pregnant.

Police said they're looking for the driver of the car that hit Swendsen. The driver stopped and spoke to her but left before police arrived.

Swendsen said she first spotted the bear as it was coming out of a creek.

"I didn't know what to do, so I just kept walking," she said. "I wasn't going to start sprinting."

But she started running when the bear moved toward her.

The Colorado Division of Wildlife said the chase happened in an area where bears are common. Division spokesman Michael Seraphin said the brown-colored North American black bear was tranquilized and later euthanized after Swendsen identified it.

Swendsen said she was sad to hear about the bear's death.

"Yeah, because the bear spared me, and then it

had to die," she said.

Swendsen, who is about five months pregnant, said she doesn't know the sex of her baby but will give it the middle name "Bear" whether it's a boy or a girl.

Link (http://www.dailybreeze.com/latestnews/ci_12217541)

[kwame k]

I understand the need to protect people from bears but having to kill this bear because it did not display any fear of humans just leaves me cold. Having a policy of scaring troublesome bears away from populated areas has shown great success in other areas of the country. We are encroaching on their land not the other way around.

Wildlife experts have used non-lethal means to scare bears away from populated areas and it seems to work. In this case it didn't or they don't have those policies in place here.

I am glad the mother and unborn child are OK but having to kill a bear like this is senseless.

Having said that.........that's why I subscribe to the old saying, "It's better to have a gun and not need it than to need a gun and not have one".

[FORD]

If they were able to take the bear down with a tranquilizer dart, then killing it was totally unnecessary. Especially given the irony of Colorado Springs being the epicenter of religious reich lunatics (all of whom call themselves "pro-life")

Black bears rarely attack humans. As long as you don't get between a mama and her cub, or a hungry bear and his lunch, there's probably not much of a threat.

[kwame k]

Not really, the bear displayed no signs of being aggressive and even when she ran, which you never do BTW, the bear did not attack. The bear was used to humans and had no fear of them, that is a death sentence for an animal. What they need to do is what they do in Alaska and other states. They use rubber bullets and other non-lethal devices to make the bear equate a negative experience with humans and make the bear cautious/wary around humans.

[binnie]

Sometimes life is very weird.......

[kwame k]

Especially given the irony of Colorado Springs being the epicenter of religious reich lunatics (all of whom call themselves "pro-life")


Believe me I didn't realize how religious this area was. That's why I am moving to Manitou Springs, that's where the hippies are:biggrin: