Sometimes You Get the Bear…
Supporters said that Hill, a father of six, acted responsibly in shooting the female grizzly on May 8, which appeared with two cubs in the yard of his home near Porthill, Idaho, while his children were playing outside.
“It seems unjust to me that someone would be charged when they were protecting their family,” state Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, said after the hearing. “I’m at a loss to understand why the U.S. government is pursuing this in the manner they are.”
State and local officials declined to file charges, but Uncle Sam did.
Meanwhile, Boundary County commissioners sent letters to Idaho’s congressional delegation and state legislators, asking for support for Hill. They also issued a news release, saying that Idaho Fish and Game officials had recommended against filing charges in the case, and that local U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials had concurred.
Chip Corsi, Idaho Fish and Game’s regional manager, declined to comment on his agency’s stance on charges, but said: “He had three grizzly bears in close proximity to his kids, family and livestock. He had reason to believe there was a threat.”
Joan Jewett, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Portland, said she couldn’t comment on the case specifically. In general, however, “we do an investigation and turn over our information and evidence to the U.S. Attorney’s office and the U.S. Attorney makes the decision on whether to prosecute or not.”
Nothing to see here; moving on.
Category: Geezer Alert!, Politics, Who knows
Just had another hiker munched on by a griz in Yellowstone.
If that griz went into the yard while the kids were outside, two things:
1. That bear is not afraid of people, and
2. There’s a good chance the kids were being targeted as a bear-snack.
We need to take FWP back from the environmentalists.
Okay, here’s the scenario. Obama bows (he likes doing that) to public pressure and takes a mini-vacation to Yellowstone next year. While he and the family are strolling, a grizzly suddenly appears. What result?
#2 2-17AirCav,
The result: several dead, anonymous Secret Service Agents, and a month-long assault on TEA Partiers and AGW-deniers for having set the bear up.
…and as a sign of respect for the fallen SS agents, Obama would replace the Bald Eagle as our national symbol with the grizzly bear.
When I see “SS”, I don’t first think “Secret Service”…
(You’re right, Miss Ladybug. I have to watch my abbreviations from now on.)
Boundary County–read, up in the panhandle (I lived in Montpelier, Soda Springs, and went to prototype in Idaho Falls.) Bear, mountain lions, etc., were still pretty common even down there.
Hell, I just had a bear in my yard a couple of weeks ago. Had it been when the kids or the girlfriend was in the yard, I guess I’d be in jail as well. There’s a big difference between trying to get kids in the house and calling Fish and Game versus not having the opportunity to do so.
FYSA, the official abbreviation is USSS.
As for the shooting the bear, I would have done the same thing if my children or any other helpless persons or animals were in danger.
As for the AUSA who is bringing charges, she deserves to be fired and dis-barred. What a moron, abuser of power and the public trust.
And if the US Attorney instructed her to do so…it goes double for him/her.
While my son says there are other things involved here that we do not know,,,,, I think that the one thing this guy did improperly was to make the damned phone call. A rope around the dead bear’s neck and a drag down the local dirt road to abandon it would have been a better choice. Scrue the USFWS, and as PintoNag says, take the agency back from the environmentalists.
Some of the comments the people are making on the story are just freaking stupid. Some of those people think that the bear was just going to come up and lick his hand or something. There are people questioning why he and his family live there. I wonder if these same people ever question why someone who lives in a high crime area when they are a victim of a crime? For some of those people a guy choosing to raise his family independently is the crime. Like always, its better to bury and hide than do the right thing and the authorities know what happened.
JPJ, the 3 S’s. Shoot, Shovel and Shut up.
And, haven’t you heard by now, those bears are just so cute and cuddly, they come up to your car and lick the windows, they’d never, ever hurt anyone.
And, besides, the guy probably voted R.
I’m a gun toting conservative (don’t care about party) from Arkansas….step into my yard (human or animal) with the intent upon hurting my children and you will leave horizontally…
I would do the exact same thing this dude did…
#9 FO:
The only way to take back the federal agencies is to first take over the Office of Personnel Management. One can never fully take away political patronage; but eliminating the BS at OPM will make for a neutral, law-abiding civil service force.
I was just told that this guy first shot a cub. I haven’t seen that anywhere, have any of y’all? Everything I have read claims only that he shot “a grizzly”, suggesting the adult one that would be the threat.
FO #14: I’ve seen nothing like that, only more supporting info?
If you find a link suggesting that or another version please send it along.
Not exactly a cub, a two year old male grizzly. http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2011/aug/29/prosecutor-releases-more-details-boundary-county-g/
Zero, my take on it too. If he had shot a cub, wouldn’t the tree hugging liberal press have been all over it?
[…] Sometimes You Get the Bear… Update September 8th, 2011 There’s been some movement in a story I posted about here. […]