Bear's hospital visit turns fatal

[The Sushi Bandit]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3818747.stm

A black bear ended up with more than a sore head when it activated automatic doors and wandered into a US hospital.

Startled doctors, nurses and patients saw the 345lb (156kg) animal walking through the emergency ward and into an office full of computers.

Two police officers trapped the bear inside and decided the best option was to shoot it dead rather than try to sedate it and risk an escape.

edit>....why do the always have to kill them? Who gives them the right?

[DenverDem]

1. Human inhumanity to other species is our cardinal sin.

The hubris of humanity is repulsive.

[Maestro]

2. DId they fear they were in danger or did they just kill

it to end the situation sooner? How hard could it have been to call a vet and shoot the thing with a tranquilizer dart? If someone were in danger I could understand but if it was trapped....:shrug:

[Bandit]

3. Who gives them the right? ~~ Smith & Wesson

Ain't a gun culture nice?

[hermetic]

4. Hospitals aren't safe

Don't have the statistics right off hand but your chances of survival in an American hospital these days aren't so good. How did we ever get into such an f'ed up condition where the looneys are completely in control?
Poor little bear, just looking for a snack after we mostly destroyed his home. Oh gee, just like in Iraq.

[AngryAmish]

5. I for one am sick of bear-filled hospitals

Almost every time I go to the hospital there are tons and tons of bears around. Those things are dangerous. They have both teeth and claws.

We're here!
We're queer!
We don't want any more bears!

[plurality]

6. Time to call out the Bear Patrol!

We'll have Predator Drones and Bradleys patrol the nation and protect us from rogue bears.

[AngryAmish]

8. We need a bear tax

I for one will pay virtually anything to protect out youth from bears.

Won't somebody please think about the children!

[SaintLouisBlues]

15. Don't tax you, don't tax me...

tax that bear behind the tree.

[smirkymonkey]

25. Hysterical!

I really did laugh out loud at that one! I can't bear it!

Seriously though, poor bear. Why the hell did they have to kill the poor thing. People make me sick sometimes.

[Insider]

7. all things considered

sometimes a human wanders into the wrong place, and gets hurt/killed by a bear. they may have acted hastily, but i believe they had the right to do what they thought was in the best interest of the patients, guests, staff in the hospital.

sad story.

[Coventina]

9. It was a HOSPITAL!!!!!

Are we seriously meant to believe that there were no sedatives available? Or ways of barricading it in somewhere?

Dangerous patients often freak out in hospitals, they have procedures to deal with these sorts of things. A little creative thinking could have saved its life. But no, humans always go for the quick, easy, dirty way.

[bleedingheart]

21. without a vet and a tranquilizer gun and knowledge of how much

sedative to give the bear...there is a good chance that the bear would have died from being overly sedated espeically if someone who didn't know what they were doing were to sedate the animal.

[bahrbearian]

18. Firing guns off in a Hospital ? Thats Safe?

they had the Bear Trapped in a room, I think a Dart would have been safer for all!

[havocmom]

10. one would guess the cops do not normally carry tranquilizer darts

and chances are good that a hospital does not have a device on hand to safely administer any of the sedatives they have to a bear.

If they called Fish and Game (cuz chances are good the local vet doesn't pack the device for dealing with wild bears either) and waited around for the alternative to a bullet, a lot of carnage could have occurred.

Bears are very strong and very fast. Frightened bears are stronger and faster, pound for pound, than most of us realize. The situation could have become much more dangerous at any time. What if the bear wanders out of the room full of computers and into a room full of people treating accident victims? The smell of blood is a very powerful attractant to bears. What then? How about where there are people and oxygen tanks? Then, to save the people, the cops fire, only the muzzle flash or any spark from ricochet bullets hitting metal and the O2 blows, taking a lot of people out? Lots of variables to consider in a very short time. Bringing the animal down quickly in a room full of computers is the lesser of a lot of bad situations which could have ensued.

As much as I love animals, and bears especially, the cops made a good call. Who are we, safe at our desks, to second guess a decision that kept injury/death to a minimum? The bear is a very wonderful, powerful, intelligant animal. It is worthy of respect. One does not treat it like a stray dog and remain safe. The cops acted wisely.

[MadHound]

14. Sorry, but all they would have had to do is call a local vet

And get the low down on how to deal with the bear, which is basically this: Find something sweet that the bear can't resist, peanut butter, marshmellows, doughnuts, etc. Inject said food with 10-20 cc of oral sedative, ie Rompim or something related. Give food to bear and wait for five minutes. Easy, simply and quick.

The fact that these officers resorted to the gun as a first option just shows their lack of empathy and intelligence. I pity the people that these cops deal with on a daily basis.

If one remains calm and cool headed, you can deal with most any bear encounter. They are not the marauding, maniacal beast that are portrayed in books and TV. Most are gentle, curious intelligent beasts, and if you remain calm, they will remain calm.

And yes, I speak from experience, having dealt with many a bear, both tame and wild, up close and personal.

[NickB79]

24. Find something the bear can't resist?

In a hospital? Have you eaten hospital food lately? :-)

On second thought, maybe they could have chased the bear out with the food.

[MadHound]

26. Oh you would be suprised at what bears like

I knew a brown bear whose favorite treat was plain saltine crackers. Hell, most bears love anything sweet, just go down to the vending machine and get some Twinkies or HoHos.

I used to work as a vet assistant at a hospital that dealt with large and exotic breeds. Had a client who rescued bears, and would bring them in for their annual checkup. Always brought a bag or two of marshmallows to keep them happy and compliant. I would wind up with babysitting two or more bears on the front porch of the hospital, in full view of the street. They would stick out their paws and I would stick marshmallows on their claws, they loved it. Used to wrestle around with them also, they were actually quite gentle and playful.

What these cops did was a crime. In a hospital full of sedatives, they somehow felt they needed to shoot a trapped bear:eyes:

[bahrbearian]

19. They had him Trapped in a room

Most hospitals I've helped build have steel Doors, a bear couldn't break one down, but a bullet can go through one real easy.

[abelenkpe]

11. very sad

the policemen who shot the bear were out of line. It would not have been difficult to call animal control and sedate the poor guy. I feel the police simple took the easiest and fastest route to dispose of their problem. I know bears can be dangerous in the wild, but from the article it seemed the hospital was more interested in protecting their computer equipment than in doing the right thing. They could have shut the door and waited for animal control. It's a tragedy.

[havocmom]

12. bears can rip doors off hinges and pound through some big walls

the difference between a bear in the wild and a wild bear in a hospitla is that the latter will be frieghtened and therefore even more dangerous than one on his own, familar turf.

It is a tragedy whenever a bear dies, but this incident could have been a bigger tragedy. The computers were not the major concern. An office full of computers would be a much safer place to bring down a bear than just about anywhere else in a hospital would be.

Waiting for animal control could have cost a lot of people their husbands, wives and children.

[bahrbearian]

20. Bears can run faster than a speeding Locomotive, Fly faster than

a bullet, and they have X-ray vision

[bleedingheart]

22. with that x-ray vision perhaps the bear was there on a radiology consult

[havocmom]

23. no, but one would sure embarrass any of us in a race or test of strength

I have lived around bears and humans are not much of a challenge for one

[lightbulb]

30. I'm with you havocmom

Unfortunately, stories like this tend to be quite divisive here on DU. Many sentiments seem to be derived from an animals-before-humans value system, and while one must respect the compassion behind such feelings, suggestions of putting human safety in second place to that of a bear can hardly be considered progressive IMO.

[RebelOne]

13. Poor bear. He was probably going to visit a friend

in the hospital.

[uptown ruler]

16. poor bear

=(


Spread the Word
CausePimpingThePeopleAin’tEasy

[Tellurian]

17. The officers trapped the bear and didn't call animal control...

and decided the easiest way out..

KILL THE BEAR!

what a sorry lot of gun crazy people..

SHAME ON THEM!

[DarbyUSMC]

27. There was no doubt enough narcotics in that ER to put everyone

in that hospital out for a couple of days. No, much better to shoot and kill the bear. Yes, if he was acting aggressive or attacking someone, you have to do what you have to do. Shoot first and think later. Realizing that I wasn't there and don't know what I would have done, it isn't fair for me to judge I reckon, but that is what my first thought was. Human and animal life isn't worth much to too many people. When they killed that Gorilla who got out the other day I was disgusted as well.

[Bluebear]

28. He was uninsured. It's all they could do.

[TahitiNut]

29. I'm sick and tired of infringements on our right to arm bears!

:evilgrin:

[mike1963]

31. Horrible. I doubt that more than a small handful of people have ever been

seriously harmed by a black bear. I got into a bear "situation" back in the 70s in Muskogee, OK (yes, that one)...was in a bar at the edge of town watching a football game & drinking beer...one wandered in the door. It wasn't a big one, maybe 200 lb or so. Everyone started freaking and I got them to calm down...went slowly over to the poor confused critter and sat down on the floor & held out my hand to him just like I do with dogs. He sniffed it and sat down, & let me scratch his chin. (I probably wouldn't have done this if I hadn't had a dozen beers) ;-) A few people in the place thought it ought to be shot, but I wasn't about to allow that...I got the bar owner to call up my friend who was a park ranger - kept the bear "entertained" (which involved him sucking on my thumb, probably expecting lactation) for a while waiting for Jerry to show up. He came over and we just picked up bruin, stuck him in Jerry's pickup truck (he had a camper top on it) and we drove way out in the sticks and let the critter loose. Kinda cool.
:D

[Tellurian]

32. The bear in the hospital didn't look much bigger

than the bear you speak of..

another sad day for the ewmun race!

[Hotler]

33. Cops use any excuse to pull their guns and shoot.

Probably said he had a knife.