Now this is just sad...
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet...=1137834300457
Quote:
Maymont bears euthanized
BY JANET CAGGIANO
Times-Dispatch Staff Writer
Feb 23, 2006
What do you think?
Black bear at Maymont
Maymont officials had a closed-door meeting this morning and determined to euthanize the park's two black bears after one of the animals reportedly bit a child. (Sammye Newman)
Maymont's two black bears were euthanized today after a child was bitten by one of the bears Saturday.
Maymont spokeswoman Kate Brown said the bears were sedated and then given a lethal injection and will be tested for rabies.
Brown said there is no way to test for rabies in a live wild animal because brain tissue must be examined. Both bears were euthanized because it was not known which bear bit the child.
The child entered a restricted area and climbed a four-foot fence to reach the bears' two-acre habitat. The child apparently then put his or her hand through a 10-foot chain-link fence and was bitten.
Maymont officials do not know the identity, age or gender of the child, Brown said. However, they were informed in a closed-door meeting this morning that the skin on the child's right hand had been broken and the rabies test was necessary.
Maymont officials released a statement last night saying they had been informed on Tuesday by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries that a child had been bitten by one of the bears.
"We understand that the wound was not severe," the Maymont statement said.
Executive Director Geoffrey Platt Jr. and other Maymont representatives met with officials of the game department and the Virginia Department of Health "to assess the situation with respect to the child and animals involved."
The Maymont exhibit's two male black bears, ages 9 and 12, came to the park from the game department. The older bear was orphaned and given to the park as a cub. The other bear was classified as a "nuisance" bear and was relocated to the park when it was about 2.
In 1995, Maymont celebrated with Bear Family Day when the older bear was introduced to the public. Children brought their favorite stuffed bear for a Victorian Teddy Bears' Picnic and Parade.
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See bold... I don't even know what else to add. Why do we feel the need to kill these bears who's only transgression was biting the hand of a kid who went through extraoirdinary measures like he was almost TRYING to get bitten.
IT'S A BEAR! What do you expect it to do when you shove your hand in its face?
Won't someone think of the bears!?!?!?
