Sorry, no photos for this one but it would have been nice. I've had encounters with bears before, but last Sunday's sighting was the closest. Quite surprisingly, this encounter with a bear didn't occur in an isolated path in the woods but in the parking lot of an antiques mall in Andover, New Jersey. Well, yeah, that part of the state is bear country and the local campgrounds warn people to secure their trash. Trash is almost always the only reason why a bear will venture out of the woods. Anyway, I was walking my dog along the perimeter of the parking lot when I looked to my right and saw the black bear walking towards us. In spite of its huge size, it didn't make any sounds and I could have walked right into the bear if I didn't look around. I reckon it didn't find much in the trash bin, and it was on its way to the next one. This bear's back, when on all fours, measured just about the top of a car's window. Well, as soon as I saw him ( I will presume he was a male ), we locked eyes and I started to back up with my dog in tow. Approximately seventy-five feet separated us. My " moonwalk " startled him, and he jumped into the bushes and ran into the woods. For his size, he was very quick. My dog never sensed his presence. That's my bear story.
When a member of the animal or plant kingdom goes extinct, there will be no second chances. Evolution will simply not repeat itself. There are reportedly eighty bird species that are unique to the Philippines and many of them have already made it to the endangered list. And we, to a great extent, have indiscrimate hunting to thank for it. In spite of two national laws protecting Philippine animals, the carnage continues unabated. The killings could occur as arbitrarily as guys getting together for macho time, or as a result of a well-planned hunting trip involving speed boats, bird callers, and camouflaged outfits. Either way, the outcome is the same. Philippine wildlife, our natural treasures, inches closer to a state of irreparable vacancy. Not too long ago, we learned about the Bacolod Air Rifle Club (BARC) whose unbridled killing of Philippine birds and ducks became the subject of an online petition calling for immediate government intervention. My post on that most disturbing c...
Comments