Battle Creek police shoot black bear on B.C.'s North Side

[Baruch HaShem]

With the price of gas, how in the world could they even justify using a car to run this big bad bear over?
Sound like the bear was just doing his thing and some guys in blue suits thought it might be fun to have a small hunting practice. Can you vision the Officers doing paper work regarding the firing of their weapons in the defense of the neighborhood. If the Officers would like, please contact the City of Grand Haven, they have a Deer issue and maybe you could get in some more practice. Big bad Deers are eating the flowers and going in the yards, so here you go.
God Bless America.

[Randy Whitten]

Howieduesit wrote:

so why not tranqualize it and take it to the woods? Shoot criminals instead

I agree with you on this one. They had it detained once injured. 9 cops responding in short order to a bear call, but if it was a robbery or something, they would have maybe sent one officer a half hour after the problem was over...

[Animal Lover]

How could they do this. It is so sad I feel very bad for the Bear this was uncalled for they could have tranqualized the Bear and removed him!! Shame on the way the officers hit it with a car and fired shots at it it was running from you!!

[nicole]

There are EIGHT police officers in one picture!!! Are you kidding me?? How much did it cost the taxpayers to send out that many officers to track and unnecessarily kill ONE bear? If the DNR or Animal Control had been called, it probably would have taken one or two of their officers.

[Whuteva]

nicole wrote:

There are EIGHT police officers in one picture!!! Are you kidding me?? How much did it cost the taxpayers to send out that many officers to track and unnecessarily kill ONE bear? If the DNR or Animal Control had been called, it probably would have taken one or two of their officers.

...And they would have used flash-bangs or some other method to scare the bear away or possibly tranquilized it. DNR or Animal Control certainally would not have been firing recklessly througout the neighborhood or trying to run it over in their trucks.

Chicago cops chased a mountain lion through parts of Chicago last month and were forced to shoot it when it was cornered in an alley and lunged at one of the police officers.

My point is they shot the mountain lion as a last resort and only when it threatened an officer. How is it that these big city officers, who rarely if ever deal with wildlife, knew how to handle the situation but yet these yocals in BC had no clue?

[Peterson]

Why did they shoot and kill him??? We had a bear in Muskegon and they tranquilized him instead of killing him. I am not an animal activists, but this seems like a senseless killing to me.

[Karen]

Sounds like "get over it" has a big chip on their shoulders...don't you think?

[Grand Rapids]

Why did they have to kill the bear if it wasn't a serious, immediate threat to anyone? The story makes it sound like a brutal, unnecessary shooting to me! I feel bad for the bear. Not that I want any pets or people harmed, but the article says it is a vegeterian. They should have handled this more humanely!

[mama knows]

They did not need to kill the bear-what's wrong with these people?

[Nici]

I'm glad I'm not the only one confused as to why they needed to kill this bear. This is a VERY sad story. They're chasing this bear around town shooting it? That just doesn't seem right in my book. There was a coyote found in Wyoming just recently and they were atleast considerate enough to get the DNR involved. What do people expect? We keep "expanding" into animal habitats, they're going to work their way into our "areas" to eat. They want to live too. So sad...

[MIbowhunter]

They should compare the number of holes in the bear to the number of shots fired. This was a bear in a tree, it makes no sense to discharge firearms upwards in a residential area when they could have just waited for the DNR or animal control to respond and tranquilize. Sounds like reckless endangerment to me. I hope this gets followed up on.

[Kim in gr]

JNH wrote:

<quoted text>
Didn't you read the article? It's a bear. It is not going to wait for you to go get a tranqualizer gun. Thankfully they killed and we don't have to worry about it any more...

And so the criminal gets away so ALL of the cops can chase a bear that happened to be in the road....OK.

[BC resident]

To reiterate what only a few people have posted already, what about the stray bullets?! Where did they ricochet after they hit the streets or metal objects in yards? This is a heavily populated residential area. Even worse, who fires a gun straight up in the middle of the city?! The bullets return to earth with the same velocity they left it. I guess a cop wouldn't really know that, though. These bullets were extremely dangerous, far more dangerous than the fleeing bear itself. Thanks for protecting us BCPD.

And given the circumstances and harmlessness of the bear, the cops:
a. illegally fired guns in the city because there was no clear and present danger, and
b. poached a bear

[dogmom]

Boy, hope my collie never gets loose by mistake! They might think it's a wolf and then it might need to die.

[Dave Ross]

My God, this really makes me mad. Why did they shoot the bear? There was no need, I sure hope that something gets done about how poorly the cops acted. I am an avid hunter and this was totally uncalled for. The bear as every right to be there and to shoot it for what? These cops are a disgrace to law in forcement, way to use your power. I cant stand what PETA stands for, but I sure hope they get a hold of this.

[Mike]

Why did they have to kill the bear? It does not sound like it was threating anyone - capture it and release it!

[Dave Ross]

dumb cops wrote:

sounds like the cop's turned it into a safari hunting adventure, I'm all for hunting but that is sad, reading that article I was waitnig for the reason the bear had to be killed....never came...

Nice way to use your logic on this one. You must have done great in school.

[Steve Zalewski]

Well, why don't the cops act like this was a trophy, killing that poor bear. You people are unreal. That bear needed to be taken back to its natural environment, not shot and killed. If the police Dep't doesn't have tranquillizer guns, than they need them,...now. This bear story is appalling and leave it to the media to not make mention about the senseless killing of this bear, but instead, pretty much defend the killing and sensationalize with pics as well.

[Frankbuck]

Whats the big deal bunny huggers? He had a Bear permit.

Where would YOU go to get a tranquilizer gun if you had to? I mean right now go get one, i'll wait.

Supposed you would rather have it tazed right?

Once it was wounded and tree'd at the school what would you expect them to do?

It clearly was an alien evil bear you can tell by it's eyes. It had to be killed fore it reproduced.

Yum bear steaks tonight!

[Pepper]

What a disgusting story, I think the cops went way overboard, That bear was'nt much bigger than a german shepard. If I lived in the area I'd be more afraid of the cops swarming my neighborhood.