Boy Kills Bear That Wouldn't Leave Family's Front Porch

DRIGGS, Idaho — An 11-year-old Idaho boy fatally shot a black bear on his family's front porch after he said it wouldn't leave.

The boy was at his home near Driggs, just west of the Idaho-Wyoming border, with his younger sisters last Wednesday when the bear showed up. He says he couldn't shoo the animal away, so he went and got a gun and shot it.

Doug Petersen, a conservation officer with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, says the boy and his family probably won't be in any trouble, because the agency had received multiple complaints about a black bear in the area. The bear had been hanging around a transfer station and getting into garbage cans and bird feeders.

Petersen says Fish and Game doesn't usually issue citations in situations where the bear had been a problem around humans.

The agency has issued the family a permit to keep the bear's carcass.

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Information from: Standard Journal, http://www.rexburgstandardjournal.com/

Comments

[Smithhammer]

08:20 PM on 11/17/2009

Wow. There are some really clueless comments on here. How many of you have been to Driggs? "Redneck country?" Hardly. Teton Valley is a very healthy mix of a lot of different perspectives and lifestyles. And you might be surprised to find out that it is one of the only counties in Idaho to vote all Dem in the last election, for those of you that care about that.

At the same time, we border a great deal of wilderness that is home to a very healthy population of bears. Sometimes, those bears wander out of the wilderness, lose their fear of humans and then become dangerous. This is a reality where we live, and if you're kicking back in your cozy suburbia, from from here, I'd say you might want to know a little bit more about what you're talking about before judging.

[LindyK]

11:53 PM on 11/16/2009

Wasn't this same bear just in New Jersey mugging a guy for a sandwich?

[Ruddymyheart]

10:33 PM on 11/16/2009

I wouldn't be surprised if the bear on the porch that wouldn't go away was fabricated so as to justify the shooting for trophy reasons. Rednecks, and they do live in Redneck country, will use any excuse to shoot a wild animal. Makes them feel macho.

I once saw a small bear that ran up a tree next to a resturant. So they called the local cops who rushed down with their sirens blaring so as to make a big scene and get attention. Then they got out their megaphones warning everyone to stand back because it was a dangerous wild animal. They they killed it, by shooting it out of the tree. It landed with a thud on the ground about 30 ft below. The local TV crew, of course, caught all the action of the brave "heros".

In actuality it was a young bear, not much more than a cub which was threatening no one at all and that could have easily been tranquilized then caught in a tarp instead and relocated. But that wouldn't have been as sexy as their childish made up melodrama.

[William Young]

05:41 PM on 11/16/2009

Now about the story at hand, sad to say but the kid did the right thing even though the gun was easily located for anybody to find. However, just imagine had he not resorted to deadly force, what then? The kid did a brave thing.

[pterack5]

04:48 PM on 11/16/2009

thought we had the right to arm bears. . .

[MamaBird62]

04:44 PM on 11/16/2009

There's a lot of shock here, likely from states where bears don't live, and are not hunted. In Idaho every year, thousands of black bears are hunted and killed. In the Western US they are neither endangered nor threatened as a species.
I don't agree with the hunting at all, as it is done mostly for trophy purposes, and is very cruel. Hunters cannot tell males from lactating females, though they say otherwise. Cubs nearly always starve to death, and sometimes become a threat to humans, if mom is killed. Few hunters eat bear meat.

But no one should be surprised by this boys' actions, which are very much in keeping with the attitudes prevalent in his home state.

[arizonahd]

04:59 PM on 11/16/2009

Next time I see you being eaten by a bear, I am going to deviate from my state's prevalent attitude.

[thepoliticalcat]

05:22 PM on 11/16/2009

Chances are if the writer is *already* being eaten by a bear, there's nothing you can do that would help anyway. You know, the Native People lived in harmony with the bears and wolves and pumas. It might behoove us to learn a little something from them. This world is not just for humans and as we break the fragile web of life, it reacts upon us in ways that we had never imagined.

[MamaBird62]

07:26 PM on 11/16/2009

You're not particularly literate, are you? I haven't condemned this boys' actions.

[Meggie]

05:17 PM on 11/16/2009

I'm no gunhugger, but I do see the sense of keeping black bears off the front porch. But then, I don't much like squirrels eating my expensive birdseed, either.

[MamaBird62]

07:27 PM on 11/16/2009

I didn't say anything in opposition to this particular boys' defensive actions. I'm simply saying that there is a lot of surprise in the comments about the actions, and people who live in the West (like me) are not the slightest bit surprised.
It's not a lot of fun commenting here anymore. People jump to conclusions before commenting, they really don't think much.

[Notawingnut]

04:36 PM on 11/16/2009

I'm all for animals and all that, but the bear was a potential threat and I'd have done the same thing.

Then there's the whole "11 year old grabbed his dad's rifle, loaded it, and approached a bear 10 times his size" thing. I understand keeping firearms in your home. I'm not a fan of it, and I wouldn't like anybody I know and care about keep a firearm in a house with anyone under the age of 20, but I get that people do it. At least keep it on a high enough shelf that an 11 year old can't gain access to it. By all means, take it down, explain the dangers of guns, and use your big boy voice while doing so, but then hide it somewhere out of sight and out of reach. My cousin keeps a loaded 12 gauge next to his front door in an apartment complex. He's got 3 children under the age of 10 living there. We moved him from one complex to another, and there's a loaded 12 gauge sitting on the threshold when I got there. I'm the family mover (I own the truck), and I made him unload it, and put it in his trunk before we got started. A kid shouldn't be able to get within 5 feet of a gun ever, or at least not without a parent's supervision.

[thepoliticalcat]

05:28 PM on 11/16/2009

Yaknow, our parents had a very different attitude to guns than your cousin. They had guns in the house, but they always let you know that if you touched their guns or ammo, you'd get the belt so bad, you'd wish you didn't *have* an ass afterwards. It seemed to work pretty well. Most kids knew better than to even *look* at Dad's gun. If you were good, Dad would buy you a BB gun when you were old enough, and maybe a rifle when you were a little older. He'd teach you all about safety and how to handle your weapon, and if you made a fuss, he'd give you another taste of the belt, just to help you remember the lesson. It's the height of irresponsibility to let young kids touch weapons or even keep loaded weapons unsafely accessible in a house where there are young children. There's a reason parents have to make decisions for their children until they reach a certain age. Children lack judgment.

[PavePusher]

02:23 AM on 11/17/2009

It appears this child is adequetely trained in safe firearms usage. Stop the un-needed hand-wringing.

[GBO]

04:34 PM on 11/16/2009

Yo Boy, I'm really happy for you, I'ma Let you finish, but David killed a bigger bear in the Bible&

[GBO]

04:33 PM on 11/16/2009

I wonder who would be next when the boy gets angry...yes u got it..

[ewoman]

04:26 PM on 11/16/2009

Home Alone goes Palin.

[William Young]

05:41 PM on 11/16/2009

Hey don't give her any ideas!

[ewoman]

06:31 PM on 11/16/2009

Ha! As if she'd glom onto any new ideas...

[winchestereast]

03:35 PM on 11/16/2009

bears are able to invade locked homes - no problem at all for them to crash thru windows or rip off doors - they make a mess and leave a terrible stench - with three children in the home, this boy acted correctly and protected his siblings -

[goldthorn]

03:24 PM on 11/16/2009

This gives the meaning, "the right to bear arms" a whole new meaning.

On a side note, I find it quite disturbing, and a little humorous that crazy people who still keep weapons concealed (or in plain sight for children to utilize, in this case) in their homes that "have the right to bear arms!" don't realize that the amendment was passed way back in 1791, before there were house alarms, car alarms, proper locks on doors, etc etc...

There is no need for guns to be kept in a house. Absolutely no need.

[Trueheart]

03:42 PM on 11/16/2009

Disagreeing person here.

If you lived where I live, you would understand the need to keep a firearm in the house for purposes other than hunting. Predators are a threat to livestock and pets. Occasionally there's a need to take out a wild critter who has gone rabid. And sometimes you have to put an injured animal out of its misery.

That said, I can't say I'm okay with this story about the 11 year old boy shooting the bear. It doesn't describe either the boy's behavior or the bear's. If Bruno was just hanging around scavenging through the garbage, or lolling around the porch and not being aggressive towards humans, the right thing to do would be to call the town, county or state Animal Control Officer.

[EP1959]

04:00 PM on 11/16/2009

Sound reasoning, Trueheart.

[Notawingnut]

04:28 PM on 11/16/2009

If the bear was lolling around the porch, I'd have gotten a web cam and put it on youtube, so everyone else could lol about it.

[wizegeye]

03:56 PM on 11/16/2009

I don't think the bear would have been put off by a home alarm.

[sense oar sheep]

03:10 PM on 11/16/2009

bears on the porch can be a nuisance and are certainly not a threat if the residents are inside or at a safe distance

the shooter discharging the weapon in close proximity to dwellings posed the greater threat to life, the bear confiscated, and a citation issued based on this article

[amdezurik]

03:58 PM on 11/16/2009

and here's your sign...because you are to stoopid to read and then you go off and make @$$umptions based only on your rank ignorance

[kcmookie]

04:16 PM on 11/16/2009

lol

[bluehand]

03:00 PM on 11/16/2009

It doesn't make sense to 2nd guess any one who had to shoot a bear that couldn't be scared away. We weren't there. If the bear wasn't scared, then there was a chance that he would have decided go after people for dinner instead just a yogi picnic basket. This wasn't a polital, moral, or environmental situation; it was an emergy, and the kid did what he had to.

[Forester]

02:52 PM on 11/16/2009

When people are careless with their trash, the bear always pays.
It is very rare that these acclimated bears unlearn their bad habits.
The kid did the right thing, but his parents and neighbors created the problem.