MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) – Montana wildlife officials say a Washington man was injured by a black bear that bit through his tent at a primitive campsite in the Lolo National Forest in western Montana.

Fish, Wildlife and Parks wardens say Rob Holmes of Ellensburg, Wash., was awakened at about 4:30 a.m. Monday when he felt an animal bite his ear lobe. It took 21 stitches to close the wound.

Warden Capt. Jeff Darrah says it appears the bear was drawn into the area by food and other attractants that were left at a nearby camp site.

The U.S. Forest Service campground southwest of St. Regis will be closed while officials try to capture the bear. FWP Regional Supervisor Mack Long says if they can find the bear they’ll euthanize it because it has become habituated to human food.

via Daily Record-News – Ellensburg man survives bear attack in Montana.

Food and garbage abandoned at a campsite in Mineral County likely attracted a black bear that bit a Washington man on the head early Monday, according to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

Rob Holmes, of Ellensburg, Wash., required 21 stitches on his earlobe after the bear bit him through his tent around 4:30 a.m., as he and a friend slept up Little Joe Road just southwest of St. Regis.

Holmes’ injuries were not life-threatening, and he and his friend had left for home by Monday afternoon.

After the bear bit Holmes, the man screamed. He then grabbed a flashlight and tried to follow it before driving to a Missoula hospital.

“It reacted to people, which is good,” said Mack Long, FWP regional supervisor. “But the downside is that once it is habituated, it’s almost impossible to change.”

Holmes kept a clean camp, Long said, but other campers left behind food and other attractants at the U.S. Forest Service campground, which is “primitive” and not a sanctioned campground.

“He did everything right,” said Jeff Darrah, FWP warden captain in Missoula.

The FWP is currently attempting to track down the bear, which will be euthanized once it’s found. In the meantime, the camping area is closed until further notice.

FWP officials said the radius and patterns of the bite marks on Holmes and in his tent were identical to those found on cans of food and other items at the nearby abandoned campsite.

It is unknown how long that campsite had been abandoned, but the bear likely had visited the site for at least a couple of nights, said Long. It likely was a temporary campsite for transients, he said.

Long put all blame on the campers who abandoned their site and left food and other items behind. He said “attack” is not the correct word for the incident, which will unfortunately lead to a dead bear.

Long said he believes it is the only reported case of a human injury caused by a bear in western Montana this year.

The message is clear, he stressed: Don’t leave food and other attractants open at a campsite, and never leave food behind.

via Black bear bites through tent, into sleeping man’s ear near St. Regis.

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A New Jersey family still recovering from the accidental death of a daughter four years ago is now grieving for a second daughter who was killed in a crocodile attack last week.

Lauren Failla, 25, was attacked by a crocodile on April 29 while on vacation with her boyfriend off India’s Andaman Islands, authorities said.

A graduate of Vanderbilt University who was studying at Sotheby’s Art Institute in London, Failla was snorkeling in the water off Radhanagar Beach when the crocodile attacked. Her boyfriend, who was videotaping the scene, caught the gruesome attack on camera. Failla’s body, which was quickly taken away by the waves, was found on a neighboring beach the next day.

The incident has prompted demands for the Andaman administration to have trained lifeguards on duty in tourist destinations like Radhanagar Beach, which is considered one of the top 10 beaches in the world.

Michael Tran, a U.S. State Department spokesman, said roughly 24 crocodile attacks — four of them fatal — have been reported in the area over the last 25 years. Experts have arrived on the island to help catch the killer crocodile.

“Such an unnecessary death: if there had been proper warnings and statements that there are in fact man-eating crocodiles nearby, I am sure Lauren would not have risked swimming,” Failla’s cousin, Gloria McLean Hiratsuka, wrote to the Daily Record of New Jersey. “She thought she was safe. Her father made a point of saying she was not a big risk-taker, always a little reserved, all the more since her sister’s untimely death four years ago.”

Failla’s older sister, Emily, a 24-year-old teacher, fell to her death while rock-climbing in Washington state in July of 2006. A Family member said the young women’s parents were still mourning their first daughter when Lauren died.

A memorial service was to be held for Lauren on Saturday, with a funeral to be held on May 15.

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She has asked to remain anonymous, but recognition is required for any supermom who fights off a cougar that’s mauling her 5-year-old son.

Her weapon: a metal water bottle.

The attack occurred Sept. 2 on the Silver Creek portion of the hiking trail to Abercrombie Mountain, northwest of Metaline Falls.

The family, visiting from Rossland, B.C., had spread out a bit. The father and daughter were ahead followed by the mother and the son, who was lagging less than 20 yards behind her, according to Washington Fish and Wildlife Department enforcement supervisor Mike Whorton.

The cougar sprang out of the only patch of cover along that stretch of trail, investigating officers reported.

“The mother was just picking up the water bottle her husband had left on the trail for her when she saw her son go to the ground out of the corner of her eye,” Whorton said.

“She immediately ran over and began hitting the cougar with the stainless steel bottle. She was there so fast the cougar didn’t have a chance to get a death grip on the boy’s neck. The claw marks on his chest indicated the cougar was still trying to turn him into position to get a good hold.”

The mother beat the cat – estimated at 80 pounds – hard enough to make it release the boy. But the cougar retreated only a few feet and looked back.

The mother threw the water bottle.

There was no radar to record the speed or umpire to call the accuracy, but she had enough stuff on that bottle to persuade the cougar to sprint downhill and disappear into the timber.

Steeee-rike!

The boy is healing with no complications from the teeth and claw marks to his head and chest, the family told Whorton.

A hunter with hounds had no luck in tracking down the offending cougar last weekend.

Fish and Wildlife officials issued the hunter a three-day kill permit.

“That’s basically all we can do,” Whorton said. “At this point, if we found a cougar in the area we’d have no cause to believe it’s the cat that took down the child.”

The incident emphasizes a precaution wildlife experts preach to families heading into cougar or wolf country.

Kids should be kept close and between adults as much as possible. Cougars and wolves in particular are known to key in on the smallest and most vulnerable prey in a flock, and that means children.

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A 5-year-old boy from Rossland, B.C., was attacked by a cougar Wednesday while he and his family were hiking a trail in Stevens County.

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officers said the attack occurred while the boy and his family were hiking on the Abercrombie Mountain trail along Silver Creek in the Colville National Forest.

The boy’s parents told wildlife officers that the boy was treated for head wounds at Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital in Trail, B.C. He was expected to recover completely, they said.

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Sinkhole opens up, traps person on Seattle waterfront

 

 

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A man was rescued Thursday morning by firefighters after he tumbled into a 10-foot-deep hole that opened up in the sidewalk along Seattle’s downtown waterfront, one of the city’s most popular promenades and tourist attractions.The 60-year-old man reported minor back pain and was taken to Harborview Medical Center to be examined, Fire Department spokeswoman Dana Vander Houwen said.

The sidewalk, atop the deteriorating sea wall that separates Alaskan Way from Elliott Bay, is at the southern end of a walkway strolled by thousands of people daily. City officials have long urged that the sea wall be fixed, and a new wall is planned as part of a $4.2 billion project to replace the Alaskan Way viaduct with a tunnel by 2015.

The hole, about 2 to 4 feet wide and 7 feet long, opened up without warning about 8 a.m. at a small park at the foot of South Washington Street in the city’s historic Pioneer Square neighborhood. The park is just south of the Washington State Ferries terminal that links downtown Seattle with the west side of Puget Sound.

In the mid-19th century, the land beneath the sidewalk was mud flats and near a sawmill at the foot of Skid Road, the one-time path where logs were skidded downhill and that later became a generic term for down-and-out neighborhoods.

Vander Houwen said 26 firefighters worked to rescue the man, blocking heavily used Alaskan Way during the morning rush hour.

There was a hollow space beneath where the 4-inch-thick sidewalk gave way, she said. “He was trapped by some of his clothing and backpack.”

The man cut off a sleeve that was snagged in the hole as firefighters drilled bolts into nearby concrete, fastened ropes to the bolts and lowered pieces of wood and inflatable air bags to stabilize the soil.

Ladders were extended across the opening, and the man was placed into a harness and pulled to the surface after about an hour, Vander Houwen said.

The walkway will remain closed to pedestrians until it can be further examined, she said.

In late 2005, Mayor Greg Nickels said small marine creatures were boring through the sea wall so rapidly that city divers had to increase the frequency of inspections of the wood and steel structure to twice a year.

Another sub-par review because someone thinks we are wrong about the information in LETHAL. When actually, we are right.

Earthquakes are a real threat in Washington State, the most recent occurrence being in 1996. The potential for more happening in the future is there, because of existing, known fault lines.

Tornadoes are often also real threat in Washington State.  In 1972, Washington lead the country in tornado deaths. And in 1997, 6 tornadoes touched down in Washington state in a single day.

 April 5, 1972 – Washington’s Deadliest Tornado Outbreak

* An F3 tornado touched down in Vancouver

* 6 deaths and 300 injured, Washington led nation in tornado deaths that year

* Tornado swept through a grocery store, bowling alley, and grade school near where Vancouver Mall is today

* 50 million dollars in damage

* Later that day, another F3 tornado touched down west of Spokane

* And an F2 tornado struck rural Stevens county

* Numerous severe thunderstorms with large hail and damaging winds were reported over other areas of eastern Washington 

As for the Great White Shark in the woods, it’s likely the user is in a coastal forest, and when in a coastal area, we list the dangers that the oceans represent, as a general rule.

It’s frustrating that our app consistently gets bad reviews for having information that is accurate, but unexpected or against “common wisdom.” Oh well.

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Cougar refuses to run, killed by officers

 

By K.C. Mehaffey
World staff writer 
Posted May 13, 2009

BRIDGEPORT — State Department of Fish and Wildlife officers shot and killed an adult male cougar on the outskirts of Bridgeport on Tuesday afternoon.

It was crouching in what authorities called an attack position, about 20 feet from the officers.

“I felt absolutely horrible about the outcome, because it wasn’t what we wanted to do,” Fish and Wildlife Sgt. Jim Brown said this morning.

A resident in the 200 block of Fourth Street called Douglas County Sheriff’s deputies at about 4:15 p.m. to report a cougar in a tree outside his father’s home, said Undersheriff Don Culp. Deputies responded, along with Fish and Wildlife officers, to find the big cat in a tall poplar tree.

Brown said they were planning to tranquilize the mountain lion and relocate it. But because it was in a poplar tree, there was no way for officers to climb up and retrieve the tranquilized animal, since there were no low branches. If it fell, it may have been seriously injured on fence posts below the tree, he said.

Brown said officers instead used firecracker shot and then bird shot to scare him from the tree, but instead of running away, he fled to a nearby bush.

When Brown located him, he was crouched and ready to pounce, so Brown shot and killed him, he said.

“I know that posture from my experience and training. I had to make a decision right then, and that was the decision I made,” he said.

A crowd of people had gathered, and although they were not close to the cougar, officers would not have been able to shoot him if he ran toward them.

“I don’t know why it did what it did,” Brown added. “We had brought the transport trailer and had everything there to relocate it, but we just couldn’t practically do that.”

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Dog that mauled Finley boy killed by handlers

BY DREW FOSTER, HERALD STAFF WRITER

Published: 05/06/09   1:32 am   |   Updated: 05/06/09   3:52 pm

A dog that mauled a 9-year-old boy in Finley was killed by its handlers after they were told by local law enforcement to quarantine the animal for 10 days so it could be monitored for rabies.

Bruce Perkins, director of the Benton-Franklin Health District’s environmental health department, said Tuesday that definitive rabies tests could not be performed after the dog was killed.

“Somebody did put down the animal,” he said. “Rumor has it, they shot it in the head, and the head is the part sent in for testing.”

Shanda Reed, the boy’s mother, said officials with the Benton-Franklin Health District told her the dog had received prior rabies vaccinations and left the decision to have her son receive rabies treatment up to her. She said she doesn’t plan for him to have the treatments.

The owner of the dog, who was in jail on unrelated charges when his animal attacked the boy, will not face criminal charges, said Lt. Brian White of the Benton County Sheriff’s Office. White said there are no leash laws in unincorporated areas of Benton County, adding that dog attacks are treated as civil matters, not criminal.

Reed does not plan to sue the dog’s owner.

Reed said her son, Triston Jett, required 20 stitches to close wounds on his face. She said he is recovering well.

The boy, who was attacked while walking home from a friend’s house, was treated at Kennewick General Hospital and released later Friday night.

Reed said the dog, a medium-sized border collie mix, had a violent past.

“It’s got a rap sheet,” she said, adding that it once threatened her son and her son’s father as the two walked near property it was living on.

She also said the dog once bit a neighbor’s child, but White said the sheriff’s office had never received a complaint about the dog before Friday’s attack.

He said animals that attack people or livestock must be declared potentially dangerous or dangerous for their owners to obtain permits to keep them. At the end of 2008, 55 dogs were permitted as potentially dangerous in Benton County, while four were permitted as dangerous.

Potentially dangerous and dangerous dogs must be kept on a leash, behind a fence or in a kennel, even if they live in an unincorporated area unaffected by leash laws, White said.

The dog that attacked Triston was not designated as potentially dangerous or dangerous before Friday. After the attack, the county did designate the animal as dangerous.

Potentially dangerous dogs that escape their enclosure or attack a person or livestock are automatically deemed dangerous, White said. Dangerous dogs that escape or attack may face an increased chance of being euthanized, but White said laws regarding dangerous animals are ambiguous.

“We might end up making a change to that policy,” White said.

Most of the time, the decision to euthanize a dangerous animal is left to the owner, he said.

“If the dog is a menace to people and it’s been attacking people, normally the owners don’t want to keep it,” he said.

Most dog attacks in unincorporated areas of the county resulting in anything short of serious injury or death aren’t treated as criminal matters. A person using a dog as a weapon would face criminal charges, White said, and someone who allows a knowingly dangerous dog to run free could face a $500 ticket for a civil offense.

“I think both us and the (county) commissioners have looked into this whole deal because of the problems we’ve had with strays,” White said. “Dog bites aren’t common, but we probably have one a month. Most aren’t this severe.”

Reed plans to move her family from Finley soon, but before she does, she said she’d like to lobby the county to adopt some sort of leash law.

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Sinkhole closes Gastonia road to through traffic

April 27, 2009 – 6:48 PM

Kevin Ellis

A sinkhole has required the emergency closure of Washington Street to all traffic between Franklin Boulevard and Overman Avenue, the city of Gastonia reported Monday.

The street, located west of U.S. 321, will remain closed until the cause of the sinkhole is determined and a plan to repair is developed and executed, according to a city release.

The majority of the traffic utilizing Washington Street is local traffic; therefore, no signed detour will be implemented at this time.  Access to adjacent properties will be available.

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Lifeguards say 911 is best help you can offer to rip current victims

By Sallie James | South Florida Sun-Sentinel

POMPANO BEACH – Lifeguards are warning beachgoers to call 911 if they spot a swimmer in trouble after a weekend in which two people died and more than a dozen were rescued from dangerous surf off Broward and Palm Beach counties.

“If somebody does notice someone in trouble, they should call 911 instead of putting themselves in danger,” said Pompano Beach lifeguard Capt. Wade Rickerson.

Dangerous rip currents are expected to continue off the coast all week, barring a change in wind.

Today’s conditions again were favorable for rip currents, with almost no lateral currents and winds blowing onshore from the east at about 15 mph, Rickerson said.

The combination creates a condition that causes rip currents. A break in a sandbar under the water makes a channel that carries the water out to sea more rapidly and forcefully.

The key to surviving is swimming parallel to the shore until outside the current. Then, swimming back to shore or yelling for help.

On Saturday in Pompano Beach, a 73-year-old man died of a heart attack after saving two boys from strong currents that were pulling them out to sea. On Sunday in Palm Beach, a 24-year-old Cape Coral man died, overcome by the powerful currents.

“People have to be careful. If conditions are rougher than you are qualified to swim in, you shouldn’t go in,” Rickerson said.

Charles Schultze, a Washington, D.C., lawyer with a vacation home in Pompano Beach, collapsed and died on the beach Saturday after first bringing a struggling 12-year-old to shore, then going back out to rescue his 9-year-old brother, who was at least 40 yards offshore.

According to the Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office, Schultze died of a heart attack.

Sunday afternoon, Palm Beach officers responded to a report of a possible drowning at Peruvian Avenue and arrived to find the body of Kyle Dishman 24, of Cape Coral, in the water some 200 yards from shore.

Dishman was pronounced dead at Good Samaritan Hospital a short time later. His friends told police they went swimming about 4:30 p.m. and were in the water 15 to 20 minutes when they realized it was too rough.

As they tried to swim in, rip currents pulled them out, and they were unable to reach Dishman.

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Such an amazing act of bravery. He was 70 years old! What a gift he’s given the two young boys.

Man Dies After Saving Two Boys From Near Drowning

POMPANO BEACH (CBS4) ―

When a 70-year-old Washington, D.C. man saw two boys in distress after getting caught in a rip current, Charles Schulze wasted no time swimming to them so that they would be safely reunited with their mother, according to Broward Sheriff’s Office. 

But as he neared the shore on Saturday afternoon, officials say, he ran into trouble and eventually died. 

His girlfriend, Helen Smith, yelled for help and two bystanders pulled him out of the water on the 1200 block of South Ocean Boulevard. Schulze was taken to Holy Cross Hospital were he was pronounced dead. 

It’s unclear exactly whether Schulze had a medical problem in the water, became exhausted during the rescue or if he got caught in a powerful rip current. Detectives are continuing to investigate. Schulze and Smith own a condominium in the area and are regular visitors to South Florida.

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I kind of hope it just disappears back into the wild.

Push to save young cougar grows
By KYLE ODEGARD
For the Democrat-HeraldBut can the mountain lion be saved?

CORVALLIS – A groundswell of support is forming to save the life of the young cougar that has been roaming northwest Corvallis. Thursday, a wildlife sanctuary offered to take the mountain lion, if it can be trapped by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“We would be happy to provide it a lifetime home,” said Cheryl Tuller, executive director of WildCat Haven of Sherwood in Washington County.

The cougar has been spotted at least seven times in two weeks, and ODFW biologists have said it poses a potential danger to humans because it doesn’t appear to be afraid of people. Wild cougars usually avoid all contact with humans.

The mountain lion, which is estimated to weigh 50 pounds, was photographed twice at the edge of back yards. Last Friday, it attacked a house cat about 300 yards from Wilson School. The pet survived, however, and is expected to recover.

ODFW officials have said that if the cougar is trapped, it will be examined by a veterinarian to try to determine its history. But then the mountain lion likely would be killed.

The agency has a policy against relocating problem animals, partly because they’ll likely cause problems elsewhere, but also for disease control and to avert conflicts that relocating the cougar could cause with existing wildlife at the new locale.

But WildCat Haven is offering to relocate the animal not to a different patch of woods, but to its own shelter. The non-profit has 45 big cats such as lynx, bobcats and 11 cougars — all born in captivity. (See www.wildcathaven.org/).

Tuller said there’s a convincing argument to be made, based on behavior, that the cougar once was someone’s pet.

Brooks Fahy, the executive director of Predator Defense, a Eugene-based wildlife advocacy group, said the animal probably is wild but is exhibiting foolish behavior as part of a growing phase.

“They’re like teenagers. They’re curious. This is not an extraordinary event,” said Fahy, who has worked as a veterinary technician specializing in wildlife rehabilitation.

“Everybody just back off; be cautious,” Fahy said. “Nobody has been threatened. The fact you are seeing an animal is no reason to go out and kill it.” He said setting up a trap which will likely result in the animal’s death was “overkill.”

“This is a situation that has been so blown out of proportion that it’s mind-boggling,” he added.

Brian Wolfer, an ODFW wildlife biologist, said there could be opportunities to place the cougar with an Association of Zoos and Aquariums-accredited organization.

“I don’t think, at this point, that we’re willing to paint ourselves into a corner and say there are no other alternatives,” Wolfer said. He added that if a wild animal is placed in captivity, problems can arise with health because the animal wants to be free.

“It’s not an easy, ‘I’m going to put this thing in a cage and it’s going to like it there,’” Wolfer said.

WildCat Haven is accredited by the American Sanctuary Association. Wolfer said he didn’t know enough about that group, but he said ODFW was very comfortable working with Association of Zoos and Aquariums facilities.

Even some residents of neighborhoods the cougar has prowled through want to save the animal.

McKenna Drayse, a Lane Community College student who lived in Corvallis for four years, has created a Facebook page to save the cougar. She said she’s hoping it can be placed in a zoo or refuge.

“There should be more people standing up and saying, ‘We shouldn’t kill everything we don’t want around us,’” she said. “I’m worried about the future. This is going to keep happening, and is this going to be the resort that we come to?”

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Sinkhole briefly narrows U.S. 2 near Monroe

By Debra Smith
Herald Writer

MONROE — Crews hoped to have both lanes of U.S. 2 west of Monroe open for this morning’s commute.

Officials discovered a 29-foot-long sinkhole under the roadway near French Creek Bridge during a routine inspection Wednesday morning.

Workers had to pull up the pavement over the sinkhole, fill it and patch it with new pavement.

The 5-foot-deep void under the pavement probably wasn’t an immediate threat to drivers, Department of Transportation spokeswoman Meghan Soptich said.

“There’s no indication of distress to the pavement,” she said. “To be on the safe side, we decided to close and fix it.”

Crews set up a detour on Roosevelt Road so westbound drivers could skirt the sinkhole. Eastbound drivers were directed to drive down a single lane of U.S. 2.

Sinkholes aren’t common, Soptich said. This one probably developed when heavy rains saturated the soil, which then started to crumble away.

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It’s amazing how often wild animals show up in non-wild areas.

Black bear living on I-5 median

10:29 PM PDT on Wednesday, April 22, 2009

By ROB PIERCY and JIM FORMAN / KING 5 News 

Video: Bear makes itself at home in freeway median

STANWOOD, Wash. – Of all the places to call home, a black bear near Stanwood has chosen, perhaps, the noisiest.

Fish and Wildlife Sgt. Randy Lambert says an adult black bear appears to be living in the median of Interstate 5, near Exit 215 in the Stanwood area, a few miles north of Smokey Point.

“He’s foraging on the fresh spring grass and plants growing in the median,” Lambert said.

Video

SkyKING video of bear on median

Bears showing up in unusual places

Since the weekend, hundreds of drivers have called the State Patrol, reporting sightings of the bear. He’s described as an adult weighing between 200 and 250 pounds.

“Very exciting to see on the side of the freeway for sure,” said Liane Johnson, who saw the bear. “My boyfriend slammed on the brakes. We’re going 60 and I’m thinking, what the heck – we’re gonna crash!”

Johnson got out and snapped two grainy pictures of the bear munching on spring grass.

“I didn’t think I was getting very close, but my boyfriend was very stressed that the bear was gonna attack me,” she said.

There were reported bear sightings in the same area last year. Lambert believes the one spotted this year is the same bear.

Fish and Wildlife agents set a trap last year, but were unsuccessful. They’re hoping for better luck this year.

Lambert set up a trap along the interstate Monday evening.

“So far it’s bear 1, Fish and Wildlife, zero,” Lambert said.

Fish and Wildlife experts just want to trap the bear so they can move it to a more bear-friendly environment – away from the busy freeway.

Wednesday evening the trap was reset with an odiferous concoction of pickled herring, bacon grease, honey and doughnuts – sure to please the average bear.

The State Patrol hopes the trap is sprung sooner than later. They are so concerned the bear could wander into traffic causing a horrible accident, airborne troopers are conducting aerial surveillance.

And while the bear doesn’t seem to mind hanging out alongside the busy, noisy freeway, biologists say it is time for the bear to go.

 

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Sinkhole closes U.S. 2 lane west of Monroe

By Debra Smith
Herald Writer

MONROE — Crews have reduced both directions of U.S. 2 to one lane of alternating traffic one mile west of Monroe.

Workers this morning discovered a 29-foot-long sinkhole under the roadway near French Creek Bridge.

A detour is expected soon on Roosevelt Road, which should allow westbound drivers to skirt around the sinkhole, Department of Transportation spokeswoman Meghan Soptich said. Crews plan to keep eastbound drivers moving along a single lane of U.S. 2.

Workers have to pull up the pavement over the 5 foot deep sinkhole, fill it and patch it with new pavement, she said. The work is expected to continue late into the evening.

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Lightning hits United Airlines plane departing from BWI

The Associated Press

7:18 AM EDT, April 22, 2009

A United Airlines official said an airliner leaving Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport for Denver was hit by lightning as storms swept across the area Tuesday night, according to the Washington Post.

United Airlines spokesman Rahsaan Johnson said Flight 593 was struck after leaving BWI about 7 p.m. Tuesday with 143 passengers.

Johnson said the captain thought the front of the plane was hit and headed for Dulles International Airport as a precaution. Airliners are designed to withstand the strikes and they are said to occur an average of once a year to each airliner.

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I had no idea. So now what should we carry to defend ourselves? Or should we just not worry about it?

Is Bear Pepper Spray Legal or Illegal to have in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park?

With more than 2 black bear per square mile and around 900 miles of hiking trails and roadways in the Great Smoky Mountains national park, your chances of having a bear encounter up close or from a distance are quite good. Because of this many hikers and campers carry cans of bear pepper spray they have purchased from either outfitters or online.

Regardless of what these stores or web sites are telling you, it is ILLEGAL to carry, posses or use any form of bear spray, pepper spray, mace or any other irritant gas spray in the Great Smoky Mountains national park. This is not just a “park rule” but a weapons law on federal property – not something you want to break at any cost.

Don’t kill the messenger as I was in complete shock when I learned of this through the kindness of a park employee who read on one of my web sites my recommendation to purchase and carry bear spray when hiking or camping in the Great Smoky Mountains national park.

It’s pretty obvious to anyone who hikes or goes camping in the Great Smoky Mountains national park that it is against the law to have a loaded firearm in the park. There are signs at every trailhead and this general rule – make that law – applies to most national parks.

The fact that guns are prohibited from the Great Smoky Mountains national park also appears on the back of park maps, in written park literature, is stated in lectures given by both park personal and volunteers and on the parks web site.

What is virtually impossible for the average park visitor to find anywhere is the fact that you can not carry bear spray or on your person – that includes in your backpack while in the park.

Even more confusing is the fact that if you do a general search on theGreat Smoky Mountains national park web site under “National Park Service for the term “bear spray” it describes the use of bear spray in other national parks.

Yesterday I went to a handful of local outfitters or their web sites in the Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and Sevierville area and they all have bear pepper spray for sale. When I asked not one told me I could not carry bear spray in the park.

As a mater of fact one of the best known outfitters in Gatlinburg whose store is so close it is almost in the GSM national park has on their web site “Bear Spray & Personal Protection For A Safe Hike In Great Smoky Mountains National Park Or In Your Own Neighborhood”.

To be further confusing many other companies online, web sites, hiker forums etc all advocate the use of Bear Pepper Spray in national parks – often specifically referencing the Great Smoky Mountains national park.

As mater of fact it is also used as a reason why guns should not be needed against a bear attack in a national park. I myself recommended it many times as a viable non lethal alternative to guns with a far lower chance of serious collateral damage to others.

I see Appalachian Trail through hikers in the Great Smoky Mountains national park as a group unknowingly breaking this law quite regularly and since their travels take them through various jurisdictions with varying laws they are at a greater risk of being caught up in breaking this weapons law on federal property.

In case you are wondering what the exact law is and if it has been misinterpreted by me here it is:

TITLE 36–PARKS, FORESTS, AND PUBLIC PROPERTY

CHAPTER I–NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

PART 2_RESOURCE PROTECTION, PUBLIC USE AND RECREATION–Table of Contents
Sec. 2.4 Weapons, traps and nets.

(a)(1) Except as otherwise provided in this section and parts 7 (special regulations) and 13 (Alaska regulations), the following are prohibited:
(i) Possessing a weapon, trap or net
(ii) Carrying a weapon, trap or net
(iii) Using a weapon, trap or net
Definition of a weapon is described below:

TITLE 36–PARKS, FORESTS, AND PUBLIC PROPERTY

CHAPTER I–NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

PART 1_GENERAL PROVISIONS–Table of Contents

Sec. 1.4 What terms do I need to know?
Weapon means a firearm, compressed gas or spring-powered pistol or rifle, bow and arrow, crossbow, blowgun, speargun, hand-thrown spear, slingshot, irritant gas device, explosive device, or any other implement designed to discharge missiles, and includes a weapon the possession of which is prohibited under the laws of the State in which the park area or portion thereof is located.

If you have purchased bear pepper spray through one of my web sites for use only in the GSMNP and you wish to return it, contact me through the site and I will arrange for you to be able to return it for a full refund.

If you own bear spray, don’t bring it into the Great Smoky Mountains national park and I suggest you call any other place you wish to carry it before you bring it there.

If you are not happy with the law banning the use of Bear Spray in the GSMNP, don’t harass the park employees, complain to your congressman or Washington.

As for my recommendation to the national park, I would consider adding a written notice that bear spray or any irritant gas device is illegal to posses in the GSMNP on:

• Park bulletin boards – the first one being at the beginning of the AT in Fontana.
• The black bear page on the parks web site
• Printing it on future bear, hiking and camping literature
• On the back of future issues of park maps where other park rules are located right next to where it says firearms are prohibited.

There are questions as to the effectiveness of Bear Spray and well as potential safety issues for those not properly trained in its use.

I also as that if you have a hiking or camping forum you post in, blog, MySpace or Facebook page you let others know about this law by linking to this page at:

http://yoursmokies.blogspot.com/2009/04/is-bear-pepper-spray-legal-or-illegal.html

As always comments are not only welcome but encouraged.

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A series of attacks and the Pit Bulls responsible still at large has an entire neighborhood on edge.

VALLEY CENTER: Neighborhood shaken by pit bull attacks

Roaming dogs said to be from nearby Indian reservation

By CHRIS NICHOLS – Staff Writer | Monday, April 13, 2009 5:56 PM PDT ∞

VALLEY CENTER —- A string of recent pit bull attacks has left two other dogs dead, a miniature horse mauled and residents feeling shaken and helpless in Paradise Mountain, an otherwise quiet community east of Valley Center on the edge of the San Pasqual Indian Reservation.

Several neighbors said law enforcement, county animal control and tribal authorities have failed to track down the pit bulls responsible for the attacks despite repeated pleas. They said they’ve provided specific information about where the dogs came from —- just across the reservation line near Sunset Vista Lane.

Pit bulls are among certain breeds of dogs that have been linked to numerous deadly attacks on animals and people nationwide. Some communities have passed laws to either ban them or place more restrictions on owning pit bulls.

County officials say they’ve investigated the Paradise Mountain attacks, but do not have the authority to seize any dogs from the reservation. Tribal officials did not comment for this story, despite repeated requests.

The attacks began Jan. 31 when a pack of four pit bulls dragged Robin Hansen’s miniature horse, Spike, by his face from his corral at about 11 p.m. The dogs ripped the skin off the 15-year-old horse’s muzzle, twisted his spine, dislodged his palate and left numerous puncture wounds on his hind quarters, Hansen said.

Hansen and her husband chased the blood-soaked dogs from their Sunset Vista property in their pickup, she said.

Two months later, the white and brown-spotted horse moves slowly and wheezes considerably. The exposed pink skin above his mouth is still raw.

Domingo Ortega’s Labrador, Negro, and Labrador/German shepherd mix, Burni, did not survive their attacks by what neighbors believe were three of the four same pit bulls. That incident took place in early March, also on Sunset Vista, where Ortega owns an avocado grove.

A full-size horse at a third property on Sunset Vista escaped March 18 with minor injuries after its owners scared the what are believed to be the same pit bulls, said owner Kris Preston.

The pit bulls have not been seen since that date and no new attacks have been reported, officials said. Residents, however, remain on alert, with several now saying they are carrying guns. The safety of people, not just animals, is at stake, they said.

Ortega, who has three children including a 4-month-old daughter, said authorities have been no help.

“I said, ‘What are you guys waiting for? (For) one of them to kill one of my kids?’ Nobody listens to us,” he said, adding he now brings his shotgun to the grove and is ready to use it.

County officials have little authority on the reservation, which is sovereign Indian land, said Lt. Dan DeSousa, spokesman for the San Diego County Department of Animal Services. He added the county has not been given the specific whereabouts of the pit bulls,

Ortega said he told the department the dogs retreated to homes on the reservation, just across his property line.

Even if the dogs are located, DeSousa said, animal control officials cannot enter tribal land to seize them.

“Our hands are tied,” the spokesman said.

DeSousa added that animal control contacted tribal security in February and March to inform them of the attacks.

Several residents said tribal security officials pledged to search for the dogs. They even told them they would shoot any dog not fenced in on the reservation, Hansen said.

The tribal security official who spoke to Hansen, Wehay Quis Quis, said he could not comment about the attacks. A tribal administrator did not return calls for comment.

DeSousa said the county has offered to take the dogs to its shelter if the tribe traps them. The county set humane box traps just off the reservation to try to capture the pit bulls, though none has been caught, DeSousa said. He said he did not know whether tribal authorities set traps on the reservation.

Animal control officers have responded to 20 calls on or near Sunset Vista since January 2008, DeSousa added. Those have been for a variety of problems, from abandoned or neglected animals to rattlesnakes to loose dogs. Some of the loose dogs were pit bulls, DeSousa said.

DeSousa said animal control cannot enforce dog licensing, leash laws or dangerous dog and public nuisance rules on the reservation. They can, however, enforce state animal cruelty and neglect laws on the reservation, he said.

Sheriff’s Lt. Sylvester Washington said animal control, not the Sheriff’s Department, handles dangerous dog calls. Deputies respond to immediate emergencies, not reports about past attacks.

He said residents have a right to shoot dangerous dogs if they present “an immediate threat” to a person or an animal.

“It can’t be a perceived threat,” he noted.

Standing next to Spike on a recent warm and windy morning, Hansen said she sometimes wonders whether she should have put her mauled horse out of its misery. His right leg is crooked. His head, because of the spinal injury, is always down. Drops of blood from the cracked scabs on his muzzle still drip to the ground.

Hansen doesn’t shy away from speaking about her animal and the horrific attack, no matter how hard it is to do.

“I think the more people that know about it, perhaps something will get done,” she said.

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Not confirmed, but several reported sightings.

The morning after: What exactly happened?

Unconfirmed reports of tornados, strong winds and hail throughout Georgia

By JEFFREY SCOTT

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Friday, April 10, 2009

Tornado warnings were sounded as storms lashed the state and metro Atlanta Friday with wind, rain, and the rat-a-tat-tat of hail pounding cars and roofs.

But, as of Saturday morning, Georgia still wasn’t sure what hit it — bad storms, or twisters?

With all the sound and fury nobody was killed or seriously injured in Friday night’s weather beating, said Ken Davis, spokesman for the Georgia Emergency Managment Agency.

National Weather Service crews were out early Saturday trying to figure out if it was tornados, or high “straight line winds” that downed trees and damaged property in Cordele, Summerville, and Sparta, where Friday night tornados supposedly were sighted.

Investigators should know by late Saturday afternoon if it was twisters that took the toll, said a Weather Service spokesman.

Across the city and state more minor damage was being assessed and dealt with: home owners removed branches from yards; power companies restored electricity.

On Lake Lanier, according to Forsyth County officials, boat and dock owners were dealing with boats that tipped over in the torrent of rain and wind that also damaged ramps and docks.

The biggest hail laid seige to northwest Georgia, where there were reports of the ice balls about as big as baseballs, two-and-three-quarters inches diameter, said the Weather Service. In other areas across the state hail more resembling the size of golf balls and English peas.

In Augusta, wind blew off the roof of a nursing home and about 135 residents had to spend the night in a hospital, according to Georgia Emergency Management Agency. Several trees were knocked down in Polk County, including one that crashed on two homes in Rockmart.

In Franklin County about 25 homes, and chicken houses, were damaged by hail, wind and rain. In Gwinnett County, a tree landed on a home near Buford.

Almost all power was restored across the state by Saturday morning, said GEMA spokesman Ken Davis. At one point more than 10,000 Georgia Power customers —- roughly 7,600 of them in northwest Georgia — were without juice, according to utility spokeswoman Lynn Wallace.

In metro Atlanta, about 1,700 customers lost power in the north Druid Hills area of Dekalb County. Another 217 were without electricity in College Park.

A man was trapped in his care by downed power lines, but was rescued without injury.

For a time Friday night arriving flights were delayed almost three hours as the rain, hail and winds stormed through the city, and the Atlanta Braves home opener against the Washington Nationals before a sellout crowd was delayed for more than two hours.

The Braves won 6-5 in 10 innings in a game that didn’t finish until 1:26 a.m.

Saturday’s forecast is without hail: mostly sunny, high near 68, northwest breezes of 10 to 15 mph, with gusts up to 20 mph, the Weather Service said. The forecast low: 45.

Easter Sunday will be sunnier and warmer, with a high near 72. Rain may return Sunday night. Showers and thunderstorms are likely Monday.

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U.S. to upgrade volcano, earthquake monitoring

Fri Apr 10, 2009 7:31pm EDT

WASHINGTON, April 10 (Reuters) – Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said on Friday the U.S. government will spend $15.2 million to modernize equipment for monitoring U.S. volcanoes and improve warning systems.

The United States and its territories have 169 active volcanoes, and 54 of them need improved monitoring so scientists can warn the public about explosive disruptions, alert aircraft to ash clouds and inform communities of falling ash, lava and mud flows, Salazar said.

He pointed out that the March 22 eruption of the Mount Redoubt volcano, 106 miles (170 km) southwest of Anchorage, Alaska, showed the need for adequate monitoring.

When the Redoubt volcano erupted 19 years ago, a Boeing 747 passenger airliner flew into its ash cloud and nearly crashed.

The money to upgrade volcano monitoring will come from the $3 billion that the Interior Department is responsible for managing under the economic stimulus plan passed by Congress.

Salazar said $29.4 million will also be spent to double the number of seismic stations that monitor earthquakes across the country to 1,600. (Reporting by Tom Doggett; editing by Mohammad Zargham)

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Mountain lion spotted near Washington Fields
BY PATRICE ST. GERMAIN
patrices@thespectrum.com

ST. GEORGE – Conservation officers with the Division of Wildlife Resources, along with St. George police, responded to the East Ridge Mall Thursday morning after receiving a telephone call that a mountain lion was seen in the area.

Chris Schulze, conservation officer with the division, said he interviewed a woman who said she spotted the animal walking in a wash about 100 yards behind the businesses located in the strip mall at approximately 200 North Mall Drive.

Based on information received, Schulze said the mountain lion weighed about 40 to 50 pounds, which is the size of a juvenile. Generally, mountain lions of that size still have spots, but Schulze said the woman was unable to see any spots.

A search of the area was conducted, but no tracks were found and the animal wasn’t located.

Sgt. Brian Shearer, a conservation officer with the DWR, said the division gets about a half dozen phone calls a year from the St. George area concerning mountain lion sightings.

The lion was spotted Thursday in a wash in an area of thick brush that is a natural corridor between the Washington Fields area and the turkey farm located across the highway, Shearer said.

“There are a fair number of deer in that area between Washington Fields and up above the turkey farm,” he said. “The mountain lions mostly travel at night and a lot of people who live in the area may not have any idea there is wildlife right on the edge of these communities.”

Shearer said police talked to another person who said they spotted the mountain lion as it walked down the wash.

Depending on the time of year and the sex, mountain lions have a range of about 20 square miles. Shearer said it isn’t uncommon for lions to travel five to 10 miles a day.

In the winter when deer herds congregate Shearer said it’s possible to have several lions working a herd in a smaller area.

Because the area is mountain lion country, Shearer said the division has a policy with different levels of how to deal with mountain lions depending on if the animal is aggressive or not.

The mountain lion spotted Thursday wasn’t aggressive. A mountain lion may look at a person before walking off, but may not run away or show fear unless you are close to the animal.

“A deer is always fearful of you, but a mountain lion is at the top of the food chain and is the top predator,” Shearer said.

Because the lion is the top predator, Shearer said aggressive behavior would be if the animal was hunched down and coming towards you.

Shearer said in the last 16 years, he is only aware of a few encounters with mountain lions – one with a rancher and several others with hunters in camouflage, but there have been no attacks or injuries in the state.

Schulze said he has also received several telephone calls in the last few days of a mountain lion sighted in the Toquerville area, which he attributes to the time of year with the deer moving into higher elevations with the warmer weather.

Whenever there is a sighting, Schulze said information about mountain lions is distributed in those areas to help people understand the mountain lion and its habits and behaviors.

“Any animal – wild or domestic – has the potential for being aggressive,” he said.

Additional Facts

For more information about mountain lions, read the Division of Wildlife Resources handout at

http://wildlife.utah.gov/publications/pdf/newlion.pdf.

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Wolves were reintroduced to Idaho 14 years ago by the Federal Government, and many are not happy with the results of that program.

Anger over wolf management erupts

Foes of Canis lupus threaten ‘grassroots uprising’ if delisting delayed

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By JASON KAUFFMAN
Express Staff WriterAnger over conservationists’ efforts to block the removal of federal protections for wolves boiled over Saturday night during a meeting of hunters and anti-wolf activists in Hailey.

Setting the tone for the night was outspoken anti-wolf activist Ron Gillett of Stanley, director of the Idaho Anti-Wolf Coalition. Gillett predicted that a lawsuit by conservation groups will derail the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s move to delist wolves from the federal Endangered Species Act.

“The wolf lovers will not allow it to happen,” he said. “They are never going to be delisted. They are never going to be hunted.”

Sponsored by the Deer Hunters of Idaho, a regional hunting organization working to maximize deer populations in the state, the meeting at the Hailey Community Campus drew more than a 100 people from the Wood River Valley and surrounding states of Montana and Wyoming. Except for a few wolf supporters, most in the crowd were hunters upset by attempts to block the handover of wolf management to states.

Bumper stickers on pickup trucks outside the event proclaiming messages such as “I Like My Canadian Wolf Fried” and “Wolves: Government Sponsored Terrorists” were an indication of the crowd’s hostility towards the predators. Many in the crowd believe Idaho is on the verge of losing its game herds to wolves.

Several hunters made it clear they don’t believe reports from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game that suggest, except in a few specific cases across the state, that elk populations are at or just a bit below normal. Rather, they claim conservationists and state wildlife officials are complicit in a cover-up about declining game herds.

“We’re going to run out of game in seven to eight years,” said Tony Mayer, co-founder of the Twin Falls-based group Save Our Elk, which calls for aggressive wolf management.

The Fish and Wildlife Service’s delisting rule for the region’s gray wolves was published in the Federal Register on April 1. The move put in motion a 30-day countdown to the removal of wolves from the ESA.

If all goes as planned, wolves will lose their protected status in all of Idaho and Montana and in portions of eastern Washington, eastern Oregon and northern Utah. Because federal officials have deemed Wyoming’s wolf management plan inadequate, the delisting will not extend to wolves in that state.

Distrust of state and federal wildlife biologists and their intentions for wolves and the preservation of big game herds in the region was a theme voiced throughout the evening. Speakers claimed that state wildlife managers are in bed with the same conservation groups that are trying to keep them from taking over management from the federal government.

“The Idaho Fish and Game has people in there that are wolf lovers,” Gillett said.

He joined others in calling for an unspecified type of “civil disobedience” should the delisting not proceed as planned. Legislation that anti-wolf activists are attempting to have introduced into the Idaho Legislature would protect anyone accused of taking part in the “grassroots uprising,” he added without elaborating.

State wildlife managers were invited to the meeting by the organizers. Sitting near the front of the large auditorium as Gillett and others berated the agency were Cal Groen, director of Fish and Game, and Jerome Hansen, the department’s Magic Valley regional supervisor. Later in the meeting, Groen tried to convince the irate crowd that Fish and Game’s goal is to manage wolves in concert with big game herds just like any other predator species in Idaho, including black bears and cougars.

It’s a message the department has voiced over and over in recent years, only to be met with suspicion from both sides of the emotional issue, anti-wolf activists and conservationists alike.

Dave Burke, who lives in eastern Idaho and is a hunting and fishing outfitter both close to home and in Canada and Alaska, angrily denounced the belief that wolves live in balance with game herds. Rather, Burke claimed that wolves are creating “death zones” in Idaho’s backcountry devoid of big game.

“These things are huge—they’re monsters,” he said. “They eat the fetus. It’s like candy for them. They don’t kill to eat, they kill for fun.”

Though present for the meeting, the small contingent of conservationists kept quiet throughout the night. After being pointed to and mentioned repeatedly by Gillett, local pro-wolf activist Lynne Stone left without speaking about midway through the night. Conservationists’ attempts to film the meeting were quickly rebuffed by organizers.

Still, not everyone in the crowd was predicting as dire a scenario as speakers like Gillett. Spending much of his speech discussing why he believes a wolf hunt is needed was Matt Douthit of Bellevue, president of Deer Hunters of Idaho.

“Management of these wolves is long overdue,” he said.

Douthit, who has been filming the valley’s Phantom Hill wolf pack hunting elk near Sun Valley and Greenhorn Gulch, claimed that Fish and Game’s efforts to haze the pack away from homes is only causing them to hunt at night.

“I’m thinking hazing is not the best management tool for these wolves,” he said.

Hunters also allege that many more wolves live in the valley than Fish and Game admits. Bellevue’s Billy Ward, another meeting organizer, said signs of wolves are visible up and down the valley.

“We have five to six wolf packs,” he said.