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Bear’s Visit Keeps Children Inside and a Town Buzzing

The unfortunate consequence of humans becoming urbanized is our increasing intolerance of wild animals. In many parts of the US, we once lived alongside bears, both grizzly and black. Even today, many communities (e.g., Lake Tahoe) are still frequently visited by bears with relatively little fanfare. While I definitely don’t advocate attracting bears to human habitats (i.e., with open dumps), I also think it is sad when the visit of a native wild animal causes such an overreaction (see a more local Monterey example here).

In many urban and suburban neighborhoods, people have forgotten what it is like to live with animals, and I find that incredibly tragic. That is why you get an article like this in the New York Times about all the manpower invested in removing a small bear from a New Jersey neighborhood. While it is commendable that the authorities did all they could to help successfully relocate the bear, it is unfortunate that kids living in that area will probably only remember that a “dangerous” animal was rounded up by numerous cops and a helicopter and relocated to a different place. These kids are learning that bears are dangerous and should be feared, and that they should always be removed if they come close to humans. This is why it is so important to connect urban kids to nature through education, because if we keep on removing wildlife when they come near us, they’re going to run out of places to go very soon.