andrewdawsongallery Posted December 31, 2003 Share Posted December 31, 2003 Another sad reminder about respecting the space of wild animals... A Russian researcher/photographer was killed by a male grizzly bear; the story is here: <a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/200182 6694_bear31.html" >Seattle Times story</a> It's hard not to feel conflicted about this kind of event. We all like to promote conservation and respect for the wildlife we photograph, but in the end, they're still wild animals. Our love for them doesn't change a 30-million-year history of behavior. The fact that a bear "knows" you won't make their territorial instinct disappear. Let's be careful out there... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gloria_hopkins Posted December 31, 2003 Share Posted December 31, 2003 Ugh ... bless his heart. These are always grim reminders. Tough to take but necessary for the rest of us to learn and remember. I feel just horrible for his wife. Thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex_lofquist Posted December 31, 2003 Share Posted December 31, 2003 In Michigan's Upper Peninsula there were many "Bear Pits", otherwise known as garbage dumps. Tourists would come to photograph the scavenging bears and sometimes try to get close enough to be included in a photograph. It seems that many who watch bears, bear watching. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lawrence_palumbo Posted December 31, 2003 Share Posted December 31, 2003 i never know how to react to these events. its so sad. just remember, however well you think you know an animal, that can change in a heartbeat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guytal Posted December 31, 2003 Share Posted December 31, 2003 I don't see the conflict. Some people die climbing mountains, some diving the oceans, some racing cars, or venturing into space. Where's the conflict? Will you flatten Everest or K2 just because some people died for their love of climbing?<br> The man lived and died doing what he loved, knowing the risks and the rewards. I hope and pray the narrow minded and biggotted won't consider taking away anyone's freedom to make choices about their own mortality, and to live dangerously if they so choose.<br> The bear is like the mountain, like the depths, like a speeding car, or a rocketing space shuttle. It is what it is. You learn the risk and make a choice. There is no conflict or blame.<br> <br> Guy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirk_van_der_merwe1 Posted December 31, 2003 Share Posted December 31, 2003 I agree with Guy. Personal responsibility is required when you work in close approximation with wildlife. It is just a shame that very few people accept this and that animals get blamed and killed for being wild.Dirk ( www.wildphotographs.com ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonathan_bundick Posted December 31, 2003 Share Posted December 31, 2003 "... He approached the bear at a distance of three meters,..." He may have spent years researching bears, but within three meters??? Assumption of risk comes to mind, and unfortunately he paid the ultimate price. I hope others learn from his fatal mistake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrewdawsongallery Posted December 31, 2003 Author Share Posted December 31, 2003 I don't have any problem with people accepting risks, that's their choice. I do it too--to a much smaller extent--with scuba diving, which I wouldn't give up for anything. I think I feel some conflict because in the process of studying a species and making images, this kind of attack can feed the general population's fears about wild animals. Many times, that leads to slaughter of the very animals we're trying to protect. These Russian bears are way outside of civilization, so that probably won't happen in this case, but still... For that reason, I don't think it's quite the same as risking death by mountain climbing, racing etc. With those, the only ass on the line is the person doing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gloria_hopkins Posted December 31, 2003 Share Posted December 31, 2003 "For that reason, I don't think it's quite the same as risking death by mountain climbing, racing etc. With those, the only ass on the line is the person doing it." Exactly. This is what should be remembered. I have no problems with someone risking their life for their passion. But when this kind of thing happens with wildlife, the animal's welfare is also put in jeapordy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hank_pennington Posted December 31, 2003 Share Posted December 31, 2003 Perhaps there's another way to think about it. What about all the people that are killed or injured each year by "tame" animals like horses. I don't see any particular rush to restrict access to them. How is Death by Wildlife dealt with in Africa? I will forever remember the account of a photographer who didn't like the arrangement of lion cubs next to their mother and proceeded to rearrange them. They invited her to dinner. Much as we might feel that some of these folks got what they had coming, agencies and insurance companies will feel differently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken_dunn1 Posted January 2, 2004 Share Posted January 2, 2004 I know he was an expert at what he did and I am sure he understood the risks to himself, but I wanted to share a pic I took a couple of months ago in the Smokies. The parents were aware that the kids were doing this and that there was a bear there. I think the rangers, if they had seen this, should have called social services.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marshall Posted January 2, 2004 Share Posted January 2, 2004 In the wild, even the relative wild of areas near human habitation, there comes a point when it is no longer about rules and it is all about personal responsibility. We must also recognize the situations where our behavior risks not just ourselves, but also the animals (as Gloria pointed out), and even other people. Though I don't want my own freedom restricted, I recognize the necessity for some rules in some locations. As for the parents letting their kids play near bears, well that's a pretty serious failure of responsibility to others, but whatever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akajohndoe Posted January 3, 2004 Share Posted January 3, 2004 We were up on the meadows above Spray Falls (Spray Park, Seattle Park, and above) last Summer, taking a gorp break when I felt the need to stand up. Immediately told my hiking companion to stand up, look big, make a bit of noise since there was a bear not more than 50 fifty feet away. Not a grizzly, but we were in it's territory, not the other way around. It bounded off and we went on. Rather wonderful to see wildlife in it's natural setting. Even better to not interfere or be interfered with! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nathan_cohen Posted January 7, 2004 Share Posted January 7, 2004 Guy, The difference is that when you fall off a mountain,the rocks don't eat half of your corpse. This is a sad , horrible, and preventable tragedy IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrew robertson Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 How is it sad? It's as Guy said, he knew the risks. How was it preventable? Is the message here "Don't go into bear country!" or is it "Let's kill or capture all the bears!"? All I know about bears is that they are best viewed from a LONG way off. I respect them enormously, and have no desire to 'research' them without some serious optics and a lot of yardage between. I feel empathy for his family, but it's not like he was hiking and a bear flew out of the shrubbery and got him. He was seeking out wild, dangerous animals that are unpredictable, territorial, and about a hundred times stronger than he. To love wild animals, one must respect the fact that they won't love you back. You are an intruder, and a weak, flabby one at that (I don't care WHO you are, you're still weak and flabby when compared to a Grizzly). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark_chappell Posted January 10, 2004 Share Posted January 10, 2004 I'm with Andrew here. If you walk or take photographs in the woods, you run risks. You could fall, get bitten by ticks carrying potentially lethal diseases, be struck by lightning, or in highly unlikely but not impossible circumstances, get killed by a grizzly or mountain lion. If you swim or surf off of California, you could drown or (again, extremely unlikely but it does happen) get chomped by a white shark. One can certainly mitigate these risks by taking simple and sensible precautions but some level of risk will always be there. But I'm curious regarding Nathan's assertions -- why is being killed and eaten more sad or horrible than falling off a cliff and pulping yourself on the rocks below? You're just as dead either way -- and if the bear (or cougar, or, shark, or vultures, or maggots) munch your corpse, they receive nutritional benefits. A better way, IMHO, to commune with nature than to be pickled and stuffed into a coffin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrewdawsongallery Posted January 11, 2004 Author Share Posted January 11, 2004 >>A better way, IMHO, to commune with nature than to be pickled and stuffed into a coffin<< LOL, that's the way I've always felt too. If I get eaten by a tiger shark some day, at least I gave something back to Nature... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shooter_ct Posted January 14, 2004 Share Posted January 14, 2004 Really, one could have learnt even from a house pet how an animal can turn against you for a split second. Now, as if something four times my size would worry about biting my head off... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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