Idaho boy kills bear because it won’t get off the porch! This story kills me, an 11-year-old boy in Driggs, Idaho couldn’t shoo away a bear, so he shot it. Get the details here.
There had already been numerous complaints to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game about a pesky black bear that had been in the neighborhood. Now it seems that bear chose the wrong porch to loiter on.
The story goes that a young boy noticed the bear on his family’s porch. He tried to be diplomatic at first, but the bear didn’t respond. So what’s an 11-year-old boy to do? Well, go grab the family gun and take a shot at it of course. The bear suffered a fatal gunshot wound, and it appears his days of wandering the neighborhood are over.
So will there be any trouble for the unnamed little boy? Apparently not. An officer with the Fish and Game department says that there likely won’t even be a citation because the bear had already been considered a nuisance. But get this; the family has reportedly requested to keep the bear’s body—a hunting trophy of sorts.
Before I give my opinion, let me offer a quick a disclaimer: I’ve always lived in urban areas. Heck, I’ve never even seen a bear in real life, save at the zoo. I don’t even kill bugs if I don’t have to, much less a beautiful bear.
To me this is deplorable—that anyone could take a graceful wild animal’s life without at least making a call to the authorities first. I’m sure they knew the bear had been in the neighborhood, but it doesn’t seem like they were in any immediate danger. Why not go inside and call the appropriate agency?
I’m sure people will say: but hey, Mrs. Blogger, the story said that there had already been multiple calls, so why waste time. Sure, sure, I hear you. Bottom line, the bears were here first, we encroach on their environment and deplete more and more of their natural food sources, so they come digging in the trash and what not. At least let the bear be captured and re-released where it belongs…FAR AWAY from gun slinging people.
Let the comments fly below, I love to hear your thoughts on stories like this. Let’s just not treat each other like a bear that wandered onto the wrong porch, eh?
How do you feel when you hear the headline ‘Idaho boy kills bear’?
Check out this video of another black bear on someone else’s porch.
November 16th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
I enjoy the Head Line “Idaho Boy Shoots Bear” alot better than Idaho Boy Killed By Black Bear”.
GFYS
November 16th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Nice shooting…..
November 16th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
I’m not bothered that he shot the bear. What bothers me is that he had access to a deadly weapon while he was home alone with his little sisters.
November 16th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
I tried to read the original Swiss Family Robinson to my son when he was 10 and we didn’t like it….that family killed everything that crossed it’s path. He and I are from the age of Walt Disney and animals are our friends….some are just a little less cuddly than others. We live in Central Mass. and have had a bear or two on our porch over the years. I always say that it’s a good thing black bears are as skittish as they are or I’d have had mine sitting on the glider with me asking him, “Would you like some more honey in your tea, Mr. Bear?”
November 16th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
you said you have never seen a bear up close then save your opinon. you really don’t know anything about what your covering your one of them city blow hards let me guess you voted for obama and you probally want gun control. save it!
November 16th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
I shot a bear in my garden after it wandered up to my house and stuck it’s nose through the screen door….my two year old daughter was just inside looking at it thinking it was a big puppy.
This was after I had called Fish and Game and they said put my garbage can inside and anything else away that attracted the bear. It was hard to move the garden inside, and they couldn’t get the trap because it was at another residence 20 miles away, so the bear made a pretty rug and conversation piece in my shop.
November 16th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
I am glad to hear it was the bear that was killed instead of an 11 year old boy. Many young boys who live in the country hunt and shoot at 11 years of age.
November 16th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Some places and some families in our country are a little wilder and woolier than the rest of us. An 11 yr. old boy in Idaho may very well have owned his own gun for the past three yrs. I lived in Vt. and had my own when I was ten. It was for hunting too. Altho I can joke about black bears, they can be life threatening and I have no problem with the actions this young man took. He wasn’t being cruel or trying to show off to friends; The fact that he killed it and didn’t wound it tells me he knew what he was doing.
November 16th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Well Mrs. Blogger, I engurage you and your family to stay in the urban areas and have your lattes and keep your uneducated opinion to you and your Macy’s shopping friends. You forget that humans are part of nature too, and need food and shelter and the right to protect themselves (and what about the livestock and pets that were most certainly at this rural home?) from a wild animal attack. Do you remember the mountain lion attacks in the Sacramento foothills? I applaud Game and Fish Dept’s stance and their obvious approval with the issuance of a permit. Now that bear with butter and garlic cooked to a golden brown, will supply this family with protein this winter and that young man will have a fine trophy, I’m sure its not his first.
November 16th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
People who live in the city and far, far away from the life of the people in Driggs, Idaho shouldn’t decide what is RIGHT for them !! An 11 year old boy there is probably very capable of handling a gun without his parent supervising and making a good decision. I know the area and “neighbors” could be more than a mile away. And the FULL story was probably not even close to what the media wants to portray. I give the boy kudos for doing what he felt he needed to. Better the bear die than the boy or his sisters. There ARE plenty of bears in that area; having one less won’t be a disaster.