I think Chris Rock said it best when referring to the Sigfried & Roy tiger mauling: "That tiger didn't go crazy, that tiger went TIGER!"
The 1st time I ever fired A shot while on duty was to kill a dog that had been hit by a car. I wrestled with it, but finally decided it was the right thing to do. I've also put a deer out of it's misery. By the way- when I put a bullet in the dog's head-two shots, that is,- the damn thing wagged it's tail for 30 seconds or so. I felt awful.
For those among us who say this is cruelty; is it just this bear in this circus in this country? Or do your feelings extend across the board to any animal in captivity? Ringling Bros? Shriners? Sea World? That dolphin show down at the local aquarium? That organ grinding monkey on the sea wall?
I don't think this does apply to all animals in captivity. It is my understanding that certain places which display animals, such as zoos and aquariums, also play a significant role in the conservation and preservation of most, if not all, of the species that are displayed. The profit made from the display goes toward things like breeding programs for endangered species, food and nutrition for the animals (which some would argue is not present in the wild in some cases), and research into ways off keeping these animals, as well as their environment, intact. I believe there is a HUGE difference between a bear in a zoo on display, who is feed and at least someone surrounded by its "natural" environment, and one that is made to put on a dog and pony show for the entertainment of the masses. That being said, I know I kid around a bunch here, but put me squarely in the camp with the other hunters who have said that while killing an animal is one thing, causing unnecessary excessive pain is bullshit. Except when you do it to cats, 'cause they suck.
They also help to educate kids and adults. This is a catch-22. Have I been to the zoo and a circus? Yep. Did I enjoy it? I did. But, if I saw how some of the animals are treated (circus especially) in training and such I very well may be appalled. Instead I turn my head, pay the entrance and/or ticket fee and laugh and point, like all the others. We humans are indeed our own animal. We are fickle hypocrites. Often times the animals are victims for something so stupid as our own amusement. And we claim to be the higher up on the ladder? Fuck I CAN'T EVEN ICE SKATE.
Exactly. The bear didn't go crazy when he was mauling that man, he went crazy when he put on ice skates and skated around the ice for the amusement of onlookers. Don't get me wrong, it's terrible that this man got mauled, but there is something tragic about forcing a bear to skate for profit. The whole situation is fucked up and sad.
It's not terrible, it's a completely rational outcome. You fuck with the bears, the bears will maul you. If you saw a guy climbing a telephone poll and jamming wrenches into a transformer, and shortly after his body shot off the pole and landed 100ft. away in a smoldering heap, would you say that was terrible, or that he was just a retard and it was bound to happen? If the bear pulled out a gun and shot the guy, that would be terrible. Everything else just represents a lack of common sense at the most basic level.
Am I the only one that kind of wishes the bear would have gone "Happy Gilmore" on the trainer and tried to stab the guy with its own skate? If that bear would have been on the Soviet Olympic hockey team back in 1980, the U.S. would certainly not have won the gold.
It is my understanding that some of the animals at sea world are rescue animals who would have no chance of making it in the wild, they also breed their captive animals and they release animals into the wild that can make it that have been rehabbed. I do not have a problem with sea world because of the way they treat their animals, they are very well fed and cared for and the for the most part the animals are in a quasi natural enviroment. The bond between the animals and their trainers is very real. I think my problem with the bear is that it was being forced to do something that was 100% unnatural and I am fairly certain he was not treated well on a day to day basis. My general feelings on animals in captivity is that if they are treated humainly and with respect and have very little to no chance of survival in the wild I don't have a problem with it.
I really don't want to start an argument here because you clearly have a different perception of this scenario than I do. Those two descriptions aren't mutually exclusive. Yes, it is a rational outcome in the sense that it could have easily been predicted, but are you telling me watching a man get mauled doesn't bother you in some way? I mean in real life, not in a fucking movie or something. The logic you present is dangerously close to "Stupid people deserve to die". That sounds pretty irrational to me.
Well, let's expand just plain stupid to stupid and cruel. I highly doubt that the bear just hopped into some skates and was eagerly awaiting lessons on the triple sow cow. It was probably whipped, beaten, drugged, or some combination of the three in order for those skates to be shoe-horned onto its feet. The entire idea of getting the skates on a fucking bear is incredibly stupid, as you would think that during that process, the bear would most likely disagree with the plan and try to eat you in retaliation. But couple that stupid idea with a likely strong dose of animal abuse and I'd say that the mauling is not only expected, but a rather sweet form of vindication, with the only terrible part occurring when some jackass first sputtered through his slackjawed beak, "Hey, how hard do you think it would be to get a bear to ice skate?"
I just thought of something. I don't know about everywhere but in some states, certain counties have county specific hunting laws with regard to bear hunting. You cannot bait them, can't use dogs, stuff like that yet many people find it perfectly acceptable to pay a fee to take little Timmy and Molly to go see one ride a bicycle around a big circle with a Chihuahua dressed in a pink tutu standing on it's shoulders. Because, ya know, that's so much more humane.
After all that, I kinda hope they held a big banquet and fed that bear to some starving people. I've never et bear before.
I went to a Russian circus in Latvia when i was about 12 or so on a school trip and I will never want go again. The way the animals were treated was disgusting. For example a tiny monkey was reluctant to go on this bycicle and actually got whacked untill it did. The animals looked scared and malnourished to me and what bothered me the most even though I was just a little kid was all the people laughing and clapping and approving it all. I don´t even want to know how the animals are treated when they are drilling them to do the tricks.
I have been in toytoy's shoes many times; a few years back it was made public that a local municipality in my area was just dumping stray dogs and cats in countryside instead of taking them to the county animal shelter to be euthanized. So for awhile, I was getting all kinds of nasty looking stray dogs showing up at my house, eating my dog's food, and possibly spreading disease. So I contacted the Sheriff's department, and told them that I was going to be "cleaning up" any animals that came onto my property. They said that was fine. It hasn't been much of a problem since, but occasionaly some mangy, scragly looking dog will show up, and I put it down, because that is the only way to do things. I could try to catch it and take it to the shelter to get gassed, and it the process I could get bitten, so one 7.62x39 round to the head when it isn't expecting it is much more humane in my opinion.
I totally understand why you do this, and frankly I agree it is likely more humane than waiting in a cage to be euthanized. But man, I'm glad I don't have to do it. Makes me feel hypocritical that I'll happily eat a burger, but would have a hard time pulling the trigger on the cattle gun. Food is a different discussion entirely, so... Focus: The whole bear situation is a damn tragedy. I certainly don't blame the bear. Would you blame a great white shark for taking a bite out of a scuba diver... who was trying to get it to ride a surfboard? Hell no. Kind of reminds me of the story from the U.S. a year or two ago about the teenager who was taunting a cheetah or leopard at the Zoo and was eaten. Damn sad, but not exactly a leap into the unexpected either.
Oh I see. So you've never looked at something like that and thought to yourself "holy shit. A bear. On ice skates. Well I'll be damned." In your mind there is something cuntishly contemptible with someone seeing something completely out of the norm, like a bear that skates, and thinking it looks cool. Or a dog on a skate board. In my opinion you made quite a large leap of logic in judging me next to the trainer of said bear, or the people profiting from it. And I certainly hope you don't come back with some sort of bullshit about me being one in the same as them, as though I support it, because I'd hate to think of you as a raping, chauvinistic, violence loving prick, because you've thought porn was cool every now and then. Judge not, and all that. I will agree, however, that the way people treat animals often tells a lot about them. When my family trained Labs to hunt we used praise and affection vs. treats or negative reinforcement for a variety of reasons. It’s amazing what animals are capable of, when given the proper motivation. They can be great bird hunters like our dogs, or they can turn around and maul your ass, like the bear in the story.