Free Republic

That small voice caught the attention of the Illinois State Trooper who had just delivered Christmas packages to a needy family. "No, son, that's not yours." Trooper Bridget Rice had thought that the little boy whose face had lit up at the sight of all of the Christmas presents that she and an executive from one of their corporate sponsors had just delivered was one of the children benefitting from Operation C.A.R.E. Bears.

HOPATCONG, N.J., Authorities in New Jersey said a repairman working in a basement was shocked when he turned around to discover a 500-pound black bear behind him. The Division of Fish and Wildlife said the repairman was working Wednesday in Frank Annacone's Hopatcong basement when he heard a growl behind him and turned around to see the bear, WNYW-TV, New York, reported Thursday. A Division of Fish and Wildlife crew arrived and tranquilized the bear, which stumbled around the neighborhood before losing consciousness. Officials said the animal will be relocated. Annacone said he does not know how the bear got...

The Second Amendment Foundation, SAF, and Alan Gura filed an amicus brief AGAINST the open carry of firearms. I believe they have been hiding their real agenda for some time now. I believe their agenda is to establish a permit or licensing scheme for the bearing of arms. If anyone has read their briefs, they do not seem to want open carry as an option. Here is a link to the brief which was filed 12-5-2011 https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B4xDZlk5vthcODdkNmEzZWMtYTFkYi00ZWZmLTg3ZDYtZTY4OWQ0Yzk2NzZm

Altadena resident Alice Sarkisian Wessen has a chihuahua named "Husky" whose name apparently gives him the boldness of a wolf-sized dog: on Tuesday night Husky chased after a bear that was trying to get into Wessen's garbage can, resulting in the bear retreating up a tree. Wessen's photo, on right, shows the bear hiding in the tree after Husky's "attack." Like another Altadena chihuahua of legendary courage, Husky showed absolutely no fear in going after the bear, Wessen wrote in a local email group: "the bear ran from Husky the Chihuahua. Swear to god that pint sized idiot treed the...

What a difference pepper spray can make. That’s the confirmed thinking of Dan Kotter after he recently deterred a charging grizzly bear in the Great Bear Wilderness while working on a bear population research project. Kotter was hiking alone on the Devil Creek Trail about 5 miles in from the U.S. 2 trailhead on Oct. 8. He intended to hike in 15 miles, camp overnight and hike out the next day, but those plans were abruptly canceled. “That morning it was fairly socked in, really foggy,” Kotter said Thursday. He hiked up to a pass where he encountered at least...

Lon Feia didn't know how big a black bear he had until he saw the carcass. He knew there were bears on his property, which borders Willow River State Park in the town of Hudson, Wis., and started setting out bait in July. Soon he began getting "hits." "Then, finally, on Aug. 24, he started coming in," Feia said. "And in pretty short order he claimed the bait, so (all the other bears) went away." It was the evening of Oct. 9 when Feia took a shot that brought down the bear - an animal that measured 7 feet, 2...

For two days, there was one big thing missing from Justice Wadsworth’s bedroom: “Daddy Bear.” “It makes me feel like cotton candy and I’m cuddling with my dad,” the 6-year-old girl old KOMO-TV in Seattle. Justice was reunited with her best friend Thursday thanks to social media and two Washington state transportation workers. When Justice left her Sedro-Woolley, Wash., home last weekend for a trip to Idaho, she took the teddy bear. But when she got sick along Interstate 90 during the return ride, Daddy Bear apparently fell out and was accidentally left by the side of the road. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2011/10/daddy-bear-found-girl-reconnected-with-lost-friend/

LIVINGSTON, Mont. - Authorities say a bow hunter in southern Montana suffered serious injuries from an electric shock when he used a knife to poke a dead bear that was lying on live wires. The Park County Sheriff's Office says Edward Garcia came across the bear carcass Sunday in the Beattie Gulch area north of Gardiner. The shock from poking the carcass caused injuries to Garcia's torso, head and hands. The sheriff's office says Garcia walked two miles to find help. He was flown to a burn center in Salt Lake City.

NEWPORT, Pa. -- Officials say a bear attacked a couple inside their central Pennsylvania home, sending both people to a hospital. Pennsylvania Game Commission spokesman Jerry Feaser says the attack happened Monday morning in Oliver Township. He says the couple's dog was outside and ran into the home, followed by the bear. Feaser says the man inside the home was scratched and bitten and a woman was attacked as she tried to chase the animal away. Emergency dispatchers say both were taken to Harrisburg Hospital with unspecified injuries.

The European markets are notably lower in afternoon trading Friday, as economic worries continued to haunt markets globally. Yet, some buying was seen in early trade with investors looking to buy shares cheap amid some encouraging remarks from the G20 meeting. Asian markets fell and the U.S. index futures are lower. Finance chiefs of the Group of 20 nations vowed "strong and co-ordinated international response" to tackle the renewed risks facing the global economy and offered to support banks, if required. However, the leaders offered no immediate policy response to the crisis. French market regulator Jean-Pierre Jouyet reportedly said that...

A moose hunter attacked by a grizzly bear north of the Denali Highway survived the severe mauling Monday after hiking to his camp, traveling by boat downriver to a wilderness lodge then getting an airlift via Alaska Air National Guard helicopter to an Anchorage hospital. Donald "Skip" Sanford, 65, was hunting about five miles upriver from the Maclaren River Lodge when the bear attacked, according to Alaska State Troopers. Sanford had been hunting with his son John, 12, his friend Monty Dyson, 47, and Dyson's son Chad, 22, Dyson said. Dyson relayed Sanford's story Tuesday by radio phone from the...

UNIONTOWN, Pa. -- Police are searching for some thieves who pulled off a bear of a burglary at a western Pennsylvania bar. Uniontown police say five patrons pushed an 8-foot mounted bear over a second-floor railing at the Eagle's Nest bar early Sunday morning. The men fled in a pickup truck and the bear, which weighs as much as 800 pounds, was moved near a side door of the establishment. But the next morning, it was gone. The bar's owner says the bear had been professionally mounted in Alaska and was worth about $10,000.

A grizzly bear killed a hunter before being fatally shot Friday near the Boundary County, Idaho, limits, the latest in a series of deadly grizzly bear attacks in the Northwest. Three men from Nevada were hunting bears in a remote area of Buckhorn Mountain near the Montana border when the grizzly attacked one of them and was shot and killed by a group member, authorities say. The fatal grizzly attack comes as Idaho’s congressional delegation has proposed to amend the Endangered Species Act to reiterate that it’s OK to shoot a grizzly bear in self-defense or in defense of another...

When the government infringes upon Second Amendment rights through regulation and harsh gun control, it is accused of violating one’s right to self-defense. There is no greater example of this violation, however, than when the federal government attempted to punish a man for killing a grizzly bear that threatened his life and the lives of his family. Fortunately, when the story was publicized and received a great deal of negative media attention, federal prosecutors decided to drop the charges. Idaho resident Jeremy Hill faced trial after he killed a grizzly bear that came into his yard on May 8. According...

Unlike most, the McCarthy family from California actually has some vacation pictures and a story that someone else may find interesting. While they were sleeping at their Lake Tahoe cabin, they heard the horn of their Toyota Prius start honking. Roused from a deep sleep, they saw a bunch of activity going on inside the vehicle with "fuzzy arms flailing," and heard grunting noises coming from it. Shortly thereafter, their car was gone. No it wasn't a bunch of crazy hairy thieves or wild teenagers out looking for a ride, but rather a black bear who somehow entered and got...

-excerpt- She said she feared for her pet's life and, in an instant, ran over and punched the bear right in the face to make it let go.

Rural solidarity is clearly up against anti-rural bigotry in the continuing debate over federal prosecution of a north Idaho man who fatally shot one of three grizzly bears that wandered onto his property and allegedly posed an immediate threat to his children. The case remains a hot topic among Northwest hunters and gun rights activists at the Hunting-Washington, Northwest Firearms, WaGuns and HuntFishNW forums. Over the weekend, the debate got nasty in the wake of the release of a letter written by Boundary County Prosecutor Jack Douglas in support of Jeremy Hill, who killed a male grizzly back in May,...

JUNEAU, Alaska — Black bears in residential neighborhoods aren’t exactly unheard of in Juneau. While many people stay inside when bears are about, one local woman says she had a different instinct when she saw her dog was in trouble. It started out as a typical evening for 22-year-old Brooke Collins. She let her dogs out as usual but this time, she said there was a black bear outside who took hold of her dachshund Fudge. She said she feared for her pet’s life and, in an instant, ran over and punched the bear right in the face to make...

Have you heard the one about the man who shot a bear in his yard? It seems that earlier this year, Mr. Jeremy Hill of Idaho shot a young male grizzly when the bear appeared with two others in the yard where his children were playing. Mr. Hill promptly grabbed a rifle and protected his children by shooting the bear. Since the grizzly is a protected species, Mr. Hill promptly called the state Department of Fish and Game, reporting what had happened. According to the Spokesman Review: Boundary County Prosecutor Jack Douglas has sent a letter to media outlets with...

<p>UNIONTOWN, Pa. -- Police in Fayette County say they fatally shot a 350-pound black bear as it approached a festival attended by thousands of people.</p> <p>Uniontown police say they an officer shot the bear in the head about 3:30 p.m. Sunday about two blocks from the city's Italian Heritage Festival. Police believe the bear might have been attracted by the smell of food from the festival.</p>

“Grizzly shooter garners support,” CDAPress.com reports. Jeremy M. Hill, 33, pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court to killing the animal with a rifle on his 20-acre property near Porthill, Idaho, at the Canadian border. He lives five miles from the closest grizzly bear recovery zone. It seems Mr. Hill killed a grizzly that had wandered into his yard when his children were present. Hill also maintains the bear and her cubs had gone after some pigs raised by his children. Because the federal government considers it an endangered species, he now faces charges “punishable by up to a year...

Kerry Shibley says she's been around the Smoky Mountains too long to be concerned about black bears, but this one really has her rattled. For about two months now a bear — one she estimates to be about 7 feet tall and at least 400 pounds — has been coming around her house, sometimes as many as three times a day. "The fact is this bear is always around," said Shibley, a Townsend resident of 13 years. "He is coming too often and too regularly. And, he's getting more aggressive." The latest episode occurred Thursday when a television crew was...

A distraught mother listened on a mobile phone as her teenage daughter was eaten alive by a brown bear and its three cubs. Olga Moskalyova, 19, gave an horrific hour-long running commentary on her own death in three separate calls as the wild animals mauled her. She screamed: 'Mum, the bear is eating me! Mum, it’s such agony. Mum, help!' Her mother Tatiana said that at first she thought she was joking. 'But then I heard the real horror and pain in Olga’s voice, and the sounds of a bear growling and chewing,' she added. 'I could have died then...

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. – A civilian employee was injured by a bear he encountered on the base Thursday afternoon. It happened around 12:45 p.m. as the man, in his 50s, was walking his dog in an area called the Engineer’s Bluff, which is southwest of the main base area. A JBLM spokesman describes it as a heavily forested area. The man was chased out by the bear, but he fell to the ground. The bear took a swipe at the man as it ran past. The employee was treated for cuts and scrapes to his arm and leg at...

(WEST GLACIER)- Glacier National Park rangers have closed the popular trial to Piegan Pass while rangers investigate the latest grizzly attack in the park. The 50-year man was hiking the trail alone from Many Glacier to Piegan Pass when he rounded a corner and surprised the sow and another small bear. Rangers say the hiker was carrying bear spray but was unable to use it before the bear was on him. The hiker sustained bites to his left thigh and left forearm, before the bear grabbed his foot, shook him, released him and left. The man was able to hike...

BRANCHVILLE, N.J. – Two juveniles sustained minor injuries after a black bear attacked their campsite in northwestern New Jersey Wednesday.

A grizzly bear sow with a cub attacked a group of teenagers on a month-long survival-skills course Saturday night in the Talkeetna Mountains, causing severe injuries to two of the hikers, according to Alaska State Troopers. (snip) The group was on the 24th day of a 30-day backpacking trip, school spokesman Bruce Palmer said by phone from Wyoming. It was the group's first day unaccompanied by adult instructors, Palmer said. "For the last bit of the course, we would have them travel as a student group without the instructors, utilizing the skills that they've learned over time," Palmer said. (snip)...

Stories of bears getting hit by automobiles aren't that uncommon in the Sierra Nevada. In fact, it happened 28 times last year in Yosemite National Park alone. But stories of bears getting hit by someone on a bicycle? Those are practically unheard of. Practically. Until Jon Woodard came along. The 61-year-old from Agua Dulce, Calif., was riding his bike at about 25 mph along Dinkey Creek Road about 4 miles from Shaver Lake in Fresno County, Calif., on the morning of July 5 when the unthinkable happened. "I saw something brown out of the side of my eye, and it...

With the number of bear attacks breaking records, it’s time to see what can be done to stop the trend. Consider each of the following bear attacks and what the victims did right and wrong so you’ll know what to do. After all, your odds of being mauled by a bear might technically be less than being struck by lightning, but such an odds comparison really isn’t fair. If you live in and never leave Los Angeles, then your odds of being in a bad encounter with a bear are effectively zero, but if you travel to Alaska to hunt...

LEADVILLE, Colo. -- A black bear went into a tent in a central-Colorado campground and bit or scratched a sleeping teenage boy's arm. State wildlife officials say the boy was camping out with his family in the mountains near Leadville when the bear grabbed him early Friday. Colorado Division of Wildlife spokesman Randy Hampton tells KMGH-TV the boy needed medical care, but his wounds didn't appear to be life-threatening.

While such parks normally are bustling with people - and have facilities to serve them - the relative seclusion appears to have emboldened some to do their business along trails and other areas where no Minnesotan would normally dare to squat. "People are taking it upon themselves to go out in the woods and relieve themselves, and without the presence of employees and others, they're not picking up after themselves," Konrad said. "People are also having a tendency not to pick up after their pets."

An international team of scientists has discovered that the female ancestor of all living polar bears was a brown bear that lived in the vicinity of present-day Britain and Ireland just prior to the peak of the last ice age -- 20,000 to 50,000 years ago. Beth Shapiro, the Shaffer Associate Professor of Biology at Penn State University and one of the team's leaders, explained that climate changes affecting the North Atlantic ice sheet probably gave rise to periodic overlaps in bear habitats. These overlaps then led to hybridization, or interbreeding -- an event that caused maternal DNA from brown...

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. -- A late-night bear attack left a camper scratched and shaken near South Lake Tahoe over the weekend. The bear ripped open the camper's tent and

A young Ottawa woman and her friend were killed Monday night in a bizarre collision involving two vehicles and a bear on Highway 148 in the Pontiac. Police say a vehicle travelling eastbound near Luskville, Que. hit the 300-pound black bear at about 10:30 Monday night, sending the animal into the opposite lane. The bear was then struck by an on-coming car, sending the animal through the windshield and out the back window. "Add the weight of the bear, about a 300-pound bear, plus the speed of the vehicle, it's a deadly impact," said Const. Martin Fournel, spokesperson for MRC-des-Collines-de-l'Outaouais....

THE HAGUE (BNO NEWS) -- Dutch, British and Danish fighter jets on Tuesday morning intercepted two Russian bombers which had crossed into Dutch airspace, the Dutch Ministry of Defense said. It is the third such incident this year. A statement from the Dutch Defense ministry said two F-16 aircraft took off from Volkel Air Base on Tuesday to intercept two Russian Tupolev Tu-95 aircraft, which are large, four-engine strategic bombers and missile platforms. They are also known as Bears, its NATO reporting name. "The Russians flew into the Dutch area of responsibility without making their identity known," the Dutch ministry...

A young Ottawa woman and her friend were killed Monday night in a bizarre collision involving two vehicles and a bear on Highway 148 in the Pontiac. Police say a vehicle travelling eastbound near Luskville, Que. hit the 300-pound black bear at about 10:30 Monday night, sending the animal into the opposite lane. The bear was then struck by an on-coming car, sending the animal through the windshield and out the back window. "Add the weight of the bear, about a 300-pound bear, plus the speed of the vehicle, it's a deadly impact," said Const. Martin Fournel, spokesperson for MRC-des-Collines-de-l'Outaouais....

A bear with two cubs nearby attacked and killed a dog on Friday in the backyard of a Stonefield Road home, the town's animal control officer said. Max, a chocolate Cocker Spaniel, died in the yard where owner Linda Jensen was working, said Beverly LaPlume, the animal control officer for Avon and Canton. "I am devastated, because this is a dog they adopted from me," LaPlume said.

State officials say that a Missoula man shot a grizzly bear in self defense Sunday in the Blackfoot-Clearwater Wildlife Management Area near Seeley Lake. Montana Fish,Wildlife & Parks states in a press release that a female grizzly bear with two cubs surprised the man shortly after noon. The man first hollered at the bear, but the bear continued to advance toward him. When the bear approached to within eight yards, the man shot and wounded the bear. The man attempted to leave the scene, but the bear chased him, and the man then fired a second shot at five yards,...

Exploring a gorge in south-east France in 1994 for prehistoric artefacts, Jean-Marie Chauvet hit the jackpot. After squeezing through a narrow passage, he found himself in a hidden cavern, the walls of which were covered with paintings of animals. But dating the beautiful images - which featured in Werner Herzog's recent documentary film Cave of Forgotten Dreams - has led to an ugly spat between archaeologists. Could the bones of cave bears settle the debate? Within a year of Chauvet's discovery, radiocarbon dating suggested the images were between 30,000 and 32,000 years old, making them almost twice the age of...

State officials and local fire companies have safely removed a bear from near Exit 8 of the New Jersey Turnpike. "It looks like it was a nice operation coordinated between the [Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife] folks and the fire departments," said Sgt. Stephen Jones, adding that Cranbury and Hightstown were on the scene. "It's been tranquilized and removed by the fire departments, brought down in a ladder truck bucket and transported to a cage brought by the Fish and Game folks," he continued. From there, he said, the 250-pound bear will probably be released in a wooded area....

KALISPELL, Mont. — The Montana Supreme Court has upheld a Workers' Compensation Court ruling that about $65,000 in medical bills incurred by a man who was mauled while feeding the bears at a tourist attraction should be covered by workers' compensation, despite the fact the man had smoked marijuana on the day of the attack.

BERLIN – Berlin's beloved polar bear Knut, who rose to stardom when he was hand-raised by zoo keepers after being rejected by his mother rejected at birth, died on Saturday, a zoo official said.

SIREN, Wisconsin -- A Wisconsin woman says she was scared out of her mind Friday after a run-in with a black bear. Marlene Thomsen was making her way home from ice fishing outside of Siren, Wisconsin, when she came face to face with the bear. Thomsen, who is a great grandmother, turned around and ran back to the fish house, while the bear followed. "Then he started to walk towards me. I kept running more. Then he stopped and I was like 10 feet from the fish house and I was like out of gas. I almost didn't make it....

ADIZ, OH — The Harrison County Prosecutor’s Office won’t press charges against a Massillon man who shot and killed a black bear in rural Harrison County last month, ruling that he apparently acted in self-defense. Michael Washington, assistant county prosecutor, said the office declined to press charges after reviewing the evidence in the case. The man used a 12-gauge shotgun to kill the bear Nov. 29 during the first day of Ohio’s deer gun hunting season in an area east of Clendening Lake. Hunting black bears in Ohio is illegal because it violates the state’s wildlife code. Washington, who declined...

MASSILLON — The Ohio Division of Wildlife’s law-enforcement division is investigating a series of events that led to a Massillon man shooting and killing a 225-pound black bear Monday evening in Harrison County. Bears are protected wildlife in Ohio. The shooting occurred east of Clendening Lake in the Tippecanoe area, according to Nick Turner, wildlife officer for the Harrison County post of the Division of Wildlife. The man used a shotgun to kill the bear during the first day of Ohio’s deer gun hunting season. The man’s name has not been released. “A Massillon man was deer hunting when, over...

TAHOE CITY — Wildlife officials confirmed this week that a Lake Tahoe man was legally acting in self defense when he used a shotgun to kill a 500-pound bear after the bruin allegedly attacked him 10 days ago inside his Lake Forest restaurant. On the morning of Friday, Nov. 20, at 8 a.m., William Hunter, co-owner of Bacchi's Inn Restaurant, encountered the large bruin sleeping on the floor of the dining room. H.H. Hunter, William's wife and restaurant co-owner, said the bear had repeatedly broken into the restaurant, causing more than $800 damage in broken windows over the course of...

Here is the link---Bear Scratching Back On Tree

South Korea a word of understanding concerning todays attack from North Korea This morning who happens to be Korean rushed in and said "North Korea just attacked South Korea" ! Immediately The Spirit of The Lord began to speak to me and I rushed out and wrote this down . . . for your discernment . South Korea your time is at hand , What is it you do not understand , For you worship me with your lips and your mouths , But this is not what it is all about ! Come away from the Laodicians they can...

A man in the Poconos said he is sad to lose an old friend he helped raise. Leroy Lewis of Bushkill said he started feeding Bozo the bear 17 years ago. Through the years, Bozo grew to be a huge part of Lewis's family. Lewis showed Newswatch 16 many pictures of his furry friend and said the friendship never scared him. "I could lay on him, I could pet him, I could do anything, he never bothered me, that's the truth," said Lewis. Lewis said he raised the bear since it was a cub and believes that's when Bozo's mother...

This bear was shot November 15th 2010 with a crossbow in northeastern Pennsylvania (Pike County). 875 pounds live weight and 744 dressed, #2 in the WORLD and a new PA State Record. He missed the world record by 4 pounds…… Note: The PA Game Commission is reportedly investigating the kill of this bear. Some folks claim the kill was “fishy” and that the bear was possibly a hand-fed tame bear. The Game Commission is expected to issue a news release in the matter.