The incident related in the Maximum Leader’s post below certainly sounds scary. If he was on 64, which makes sense based on his itinerary, the incident probably happened within view of my farm; if Rick had looked to the left over the downhill side, he might have seen the back of my hill waaaay below. My first reaction (Analphilosopher would condemn this of course) is relief and thankfulness that the humans involved are okay. Rick did the right thing: rather than endanger his family and other human drivers, he risked the bear’s life. And then, like all people of goodwill, became concerned about the bear.

I’m glad animal control was reassuring and said that the bear was likely to survive, but I ave my doubts. The fact that it was able to make it up the hillside is not necessarily an indicator of its long term prospects. Animal control officers know a lot more about this stuff than I do, but I would think that even a minor break or major bruise that resulted in decreased mobility would end up being fatal. Of course, Bears are largely scavengers in heavily populated areas, so he should still be able to outrun trash cans.

I have never seen a bear on or around my property, but the farmer behind me has found the occasional track. Bears harassing my livestock has never been a particular concern. Dogs with irresponsible owners are by far the greater problem.

You might ask why I had lions and tigers in the post title. Last weekend my wife and I took our sweet little daughter to the National Zoo. She really enjoyed seeing the animals. But, when perceived through adult eyes, the National Zoo is rather depressing. The animals are kept in small, non-stimulating pens. Many of the social animals were penned by themselves. The little plaques describing the animals were uninformative. It is a serious tragedy that America’s NATIONAL Zoo is in such a run-down condition. They need new leadership and new funding to turn things around, improve the living conditions of the animals, make visits educational, and to actually conduct real science.

If that can’t be done, it ought to be shut down.

The government could sell the land to private developers and use the sales proceeds to further cut capital gains taxes.