Posted on 03/28/2008 9:36:28 PM PDT by george76
The parents of the 11-year-old boy killed by a black bear last summer in American Fork Canyon are suing the U.S. Forest Service and Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. They say more should have been done to prevent their son's death.
Step-father Tim Mulvey, his wife Rebecca Ives and Sam’s father say they have lived with the horror of that father's day weekend every day since and now they want to make sure it never happens to anyone else's family.
It is grief beyond comprehension for most of us; a child ripped away from his family in the middle of the night---by a black bear. “He was no more than 12 inches away from me,” said an emotional Rebecca Ives.
It happened as Mulvey and his wife slept in their tent next to their two sons. “We started to feel some shaking in the tent but we didn't hear a sound,” recalled Mulvey. He said they were still groggy when they noticed Sam was missing. They went outside and saw the tear in their tent. Shortly after that, they say they heard a scream.
It was the second aggressive act by the same bear that had terrorized another couple just hours before-- in the same camping area.
Now Sam's parents are suing, claiming the Forest Service failed to close the campground after the first attack and DWR failed to warn anyone the bear was still at large.
(Excerpt) Read more at abc4.com ...
God Bless that family
Yes God Bless them. It is an indescribable tragedy to lose a child. But people in this country need to learn that wildlife is not a Disney cartoon.
If something bad happens it is someone’s fault. There is always a greedy lawyer looking for a sympathetic jury. The lawyer gets rich, the parents get a little, our society is poorer.
Allen Young, the family’s attorney, said, “This very bear had been in that very campground that very morning and had been determined by the state and federal government to be a nuisance bear.”
The family insists they knew the dangers of bears in the wild. But they believe that the fact the bear was causing trouble and nothing was done to warn the public warrants the lawsuits seeking millions in damages.
“If there wasn’t an attack the night before, we wouldn’t be here arguing it. I mean, we know bears exist,” said Kevan Francis, Sam’s father.
Ives’ mother, Rebecca, said, “Why wasn’t that done? We would have known something was up if there was just some yellow tape, a piece of plastic, and I would still have my son.”
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=2955918
Indians downriver from us at Ft Yukon (Don Young) shot a polar bear otherday; with AR-15 to boot, ha. 250 miles south of where they usually are. Nobody ever remembers one this far south. It got it all,,,, dead bear picts, evil guns, and GLOBAL WARMING say it aint so. check it out:
http://newsminer.com/news/2008/mar/28/polar-bear-killed-fort-yukon/
Last time I hiked in a wilderness area, I took “precautions”.
Where was their gun?
Thanks.
I saw that story and those bloody pictures.
Too scary for us in the lower 48 ?
8-)
Thanks.
I saw that story and those bloody pictures.
Too scary for us in the lower 48 ?
8-)
This is very sad. I feel for the family. But there are dangerous wild animals in wilderness areas. Why this need to sue?
This is very sad. I feel for the family. But there are dangerous wild animals in wilderness areas. Why this need to sue?
sorry for the double
Here in the hinterlands, we have the hardest time explaining to city folks visiting that the wildlife can be dangerous. Too many Discovery Channel shows with the hosts interacting with wild animals.
Like what? You wore a condom? Yuk, yuk, Just kidding.
wouldn’t it make sense that if a bear was harrassing people in that very area that day, that they would put up some kind of warning? I mean if there is a shark attack, they close the whole beach...right?
"COOL!"
They say that to protect yourself from bears you should sew little bells to your clothes and carry packets of cayanne pepper in your pockets.
How to tell if you are in bear country?
The bear poop will smell like pepper and have little bells in it.
I'd sue 'em just for not letting me carry a loaded gun, if this happened to me.
Sorry for the loss, but this is a pure jackpot justice scam. Stay out of the wilderness if you want to avoid bears.
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