Penn. Police Fire Twenty Shots to Kill Tranquilized Bear Cub

'There seemed to be an intent to kill from the start.' Penn. Police Fire Twenty Shots to Kill Tranquilized Bear Cub --The officers' judgment also was called into question by townspeople, who pointed out that a propane tank and a gas line are in the area where they opened fire. 21 Jun 2008 (Claysburg, Pa.) According to witnesses, it all began when someone chased the bear into a tree next to McCabe Trucking's warehouse on Bedford Street. The cub remained in the tree as police from eight different departments gathered below, along with a crowd that filled the street. Officers shot the bear with a tranquilizer dart and it made its way down, but hopped to the other side of a barbed wire fence, away from the crowd, and eventually was cornered next to the warehouse. Witnesses said the bear then lay down. Donald DiVencenzo noted that the crowd was a good 150 feet away at that point, but said officers opened fire anyway. Witnesses said about 20 shots in all were fired, and the YouTube audio captured repeated gunshots. Many of those shots missed -- leaving bullet holes in the facade of the warehouse -- and the bear lumbered on, heading toward a creek and woods behind the warehouse. There it lay down again, and Mr. DiVencenzo said officers hit the bear with a final, deadly barrage of five to eight rounds... Spokesman Jerry Feaser said the Penn. Game Commission obviously would have preferred the incident not to have ended with a death, but also pointed out that Pennsylvania has plenty of bears. (Yeah, well, Pennsylvania has plenty of police, too. Does that mean firing twenty rounds into same would inspire a similar shrug? See also: Man rescues baby deer; game commission kills it 13 Jun 2008 Contact 'plenty of bears' nutjob Jerry Feaser: 717-705-6541, PGCNews@state.pa.us.) :grr:

Man rescues baby deer; game commission kills it 13 Jun 2008 William Albert thought he was saving a fawn when he scooped it off a road in Maryland and took it home to nurse it after its mother was hit by a car. The New Oxford man bottle-fed the fawn in his 218 Reba Drive garage and called around to see if any wildlife-rehabilitation centers would take the baby deer. Among his calls was one to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, to see if they could help him find a center. But when a wildlife officer showed up at his house just 10 minutes later, Albert said, he took the deer. The officer arrived at Albert's house before Albert could get home, and he called Albert and said he wouldn't tell Albert's children the deer would be killed. Now, Albert is angry, saying he received a call later that day -- before the fawn was killed -- from a farm in Maryland that said it would take the deer. Jerry Feaser, press secretary for the Pennsylvania Game Commission, said it's the commission's policy to kill any wild animal that has been out of the wild for more than a few hours. :mad:

Both items were found at Citizens For Legitimate Government.

That's really all there is.

's*ck the most' have the best jobs!

over blocking the road nearby my house 'watching' a bear that was down in a gully. Unfortunately, this bear had been shot three times and had been trying to find a secluded place to die. some asshole was about three feet from it throwing rocks at it trying to get it to raise its head so it could 'get a better picture'. I believe with all my heart that people who torment the helpless, especially animals, have a dread reckoning with God when they die. RIP, little bear. You are not alone in your torment.

Are they getting their training from Blackwater or what? :grr:

n/t

If you have to kill a bear with a gun, 9mm (standard caliber for police sidearms) is not sufficient for the task. Even if they break out the carbines, which are usually chambered in 5.56 NATO, even those weapons are not sufficient for this kind of work (In fact, in many states it is illegal to use 5.56 NATO for large game hunting.)

This is why the bear did not drop after 20 rounds. 9mm does not have anywhere near the kind of power required to kill a bear after one round. (unless you get a very lucky shot off) A wounded bear is EXTREMELY dangerous and is not something to be toyed with.

Still, if this report is accurate, it does not excuse the actions of these police officers. The bear was down from the tranks, and did not pose an immediate threat. There should be an immediate investigation.

As for the second story, I'm not sure. I am not an expert on wildlife management and rehabilitation, so I cannot comment. There may very well be a good justification for the State of Maryland's euthanization policy.

They missed many even though the bear was laying down providing a stationary target.

Handguns are not exactly accurate, especially when you're squeezing the trigger as fast as you can.

and should be raised with other fawns with minimal contact with people or pets. This will protect them on release so they do not approach trustingly humans nor dogs for example. There ought to be rehabbers in Penn who would have had the facilities to take it in and fish and game should have a list of them. Caveat for this is every state has different rehab laws and I do not know what Penn. laws are.

Even if you had a full adult untranquilzied grizzly coming at you, it shouldn't require 20 rounds to kill it. Or are these cops just lousy shots?

But a tranquilized cub?? That's just plain murder. As is what they did to the deer.

Don't suppose that bastard Rendell would do anything about these assholes? They do work for him, don't they?

Even if you had a full adult untranquilzied grizzly coming at you, it shouldn't require 20 rounds to kill it. Or are these cops just lousy shots?

In a situation like this, most people would panic and would just start blasting until the magazine was empty, thereby reducing accuracy. Add that with a the fact that 9mm is simply does not have the stopping power for this kind of situation. (This situation was exactly why the .44 Magnum was developed in the 1950s, to provide outdoorsmen with a round with sufficient stopping power to take down a charging bear in one round.)

Like maybe "We got a bear running loose, better bring a rifle". I thought cops carried rifles in the trunks of their cars??.

It shouldn't have been the job of the police to take the bear down in the first place, for that matter. That's the job of Fish & Wildlife, or the Game Department, or whatever they call it in that state.

If one tranquilizer dart didn't take the bear down, hit him with another one. If a kill is absolutely necessary (i.e. if the bear is actually a danger to people and the drugs aren't working) then get one decent marksman with a rifle and take one clean shot to the head.

What's so difficult about that?

5.56 NATO is actually banned for large game hunting in many states, as the round does not have the kind of stopping power to do this kind of job.

The only kind of rifle a police department would that could do the job would be a SWAT sniper's weapon. those are usually chambered in 7.62mm NATO or .300 Winchester Magnum. Theoretically, you could use a 12 gauge shotgun, which is common in patrol cars, but considering the loads police use, (mostly 00 Buckshot) You have to be pretty close in order guarantee a good kill in one shot.

As for your second point, well, sometimes there isn't time to call for a marksman with a sniper rifle. Sometimes, the bear has to be taken down NOW, and you have to make do with what you have where you are.

He was stoned and trying to walk away. Probably wasn't going to get very far. Now if his mama had been around, then the situation might have been a little stickier.

Ultimately the cops should have let the wildlife people handle it.

I don't know how big it was, but apparently they could tell it wasn't fully matured.

What a bunch of sick, sick bullies.

How f n many police does the state of Pennsylvania have on the job?

How many didn't have legal jurisdiction?

I can only imagine local, county, state and game being the most in a situation like this.

All kidding aside, this really pisses me off.

them, get them checked out by a vet, and release them someplace far from people.

These cops just love to kill stuff, apparently.

Psychopaths.

God help us if the TSA ever arms their goon squad of
high school drop outs.

BHN

Mainly because of really dumb fucks such as these. There is another thread involving Martial law tactics used against homeowners trying to return to their own homes in Iowa.

We are from the government we are here to help are very scary words indeed. And many police officers spend to much time with criminals and honestly are not fit to deal with either wildlife or the general public.

Residents were pissed. This is Gods and Guns country of PA, and a lot of these people are hunters. The video shows these cops didn't have to kill this bear. It was no danger to anyone. It was a cub and besides black bears rarely are a danger to people.

Video here - judge for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TQSIJeev6s

This is a hot topic in Central PA this weekend.

The officers' judgment also was called into question by townspeople, who pointed out that a propane tank and a gas line are in the area where they opened fire.

The Altoona Mirror newspaper lampooned the officers' poor marksmanship in a cartoon that ran yesterday, depicting officers standing over a bear with one asking, "Do you think he's dead?" and another responding, "I hope so. We're all out of ammo."

Some residents are riding around with stuffed bears on their pickup trucks. Mr. Bollman stuck a lawn ornament holding a BB gun draped with a coyote hide next to the warehouse, with a sign that read, "I am 90 lb less than a cub bear but I shoot back."

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08173/891652-52.stm

*shoot first.*

I'm sure the Wildlife Commission is among the 1st state agencies to get cut.

I surely hope that maggot is out of a job.

Don't understand something? KILL IT!! KILL IT QUICK!!

Fortunately, other places are more forward thinking, such as the Wind River Bear Institute that raises dogs (special Karelian bear dogs) to set boundaries on where bears are allowed to go.





http://www.beardogs.org/

...they're TOO LAZY to deal with them otherwise.

HU-Mans. Gotta hate 'em sometimes.