In an area of Charlotte, North Carolina, where numerous sightings and reports of coyotes have occurred, a homeowner says a coyote climbed (not jumped) her fence around the area of her yard where she lets her dog run. The coyote, she describes, attacked her dog, but the description doesn’t sound like the typical attack. Read the story!

Here’s something interesting though. The news article states: “Animal Control officers found him [coyote] nearby just a couple of hours after the attack, and determined he [coyote] had rabies.” How did they determine that? Was the coyote dead and they ran tests on the dead animal? Or did they just decide that it “looked” rabid? Is the city or county or state governments paying this woman for her treatments? It is after all, their coyote. Kill the dog and make sure it is or isn’t rabid.

The woman has to undergo rabies prevention treatments because the coyote had rabies. Or did it?

And as is typical, when calls in the past have gone out to animal control for help with these coyotes, according to this article, no help is available.

“I asked if there was anything they would do,” said Blanton. “And they said at that point, no there wasn’t.”

Animal Control officers say coyotes are migrating to the Charlotte area, especially its creeks and greenways, but there’s really not a lot they can do about them unless they show signs of being a threat, or of being rabid.

This is a potentially toxic situation looking for a ripe place to happen. Keep on protecting those “song dogs”! Coyote, meet Smith and Wesson! Bang!

When morons are put in positions of power, among the largest group of elitist, repulsive and contemptible people, things like this will happen. Rep. Etheridge is fortunate to have come up against a young man who had the self control not to knock his empty head off. And Congress can’t understand why the people have a low opinion of them.

This is one reason I am a fan of Media Research Center/Newsbusters/Eyeblast tv. They have a copy of the event.

Snow storms dumped ample amounts of the white stuff on parts of the mid-Atlantic states over the weekend. Unfortunately, some town’s leaders either have never heard of a U.S. Constitution or Bill of Rights or somehow they think, like what happened in New Orleans, that just because the town declared an emergency, all of a sudden people give up their God-given and constitutional rights.

Other restrictions include a ban on the sale or purchase of any type of firearm, ammunition, explosive or any possession of such items off a person’s own premises.

I guess they thought they were doing everyone a favor ALLOWING them to possess a gun on their own property. Uh, uh, uh! This cannot be allowed.

Tom Remington

Scott Ellis, contributing writer for U.S. Hunting Today, is a regular competitor in many game calling contests. He recently competed in the North Carolina State and Tarheel Open Calling Contest. Here are the results:

NC State

1st Mitchell Johnston(Woodhaven Custom Calls)
2nd Jeff Sipes
3rd Jon Miller

NC Tar Heel Open

1st Scott Ellis(Woodhaven Custom Calls)
2nd Joe Drake
3rd Mark Prudhome

Tar Heel Open Friction

1st Mike Pentecost(Woodhaven Custom Calls)
2nd Scott Ellis(Woodhaven Custom Calls)
3rd Joe Drake

Owling

1st Scott Holcomb
2nd Mitchell Johnston(Woodhaven Custom Calls)
3rd Mark Prudhome

Gobbling

1st Mark Prudhomme
2nd Scott Ellis(Woodhaven Custom Calls)
3rd Mike Pentecost(Woodhaven Custom Calls)

Tom Remington

It appears the outcome of the dead black bear incident over the weekend at Western Carolina University isn’t going to satisfy the thousands of hate filled people who, without any evidence to support claims, laid the blame for this on McCain supporters.

Yesterday, I briefly informed readers of the incident, called it despicable and said, “Sensible people will know that such an act could have been perpetrated by almost anyone” Throughout the day, I was actually shocked to read the absolutely disgusting, vitriolic hate speech and accusations unsubstantiated with facts or evidenced that appeared across the Web!

According to Western Carolina University police, after interviewing seven students involved in the episode, they have determined that the whole thing was merely a stupid prank.

He said according to the interviews that have been conducted so far, some students camping in a forested area off campus stumbled across the body of the bear while searching for firewood late Saturday night, Oct. 18.

The students said that they put the bear in the back of a pick-up truck and continued their camping trip.

The students told police that they went to a social get-together at The Summit, an off-campus residential complex, on Sunday night, Oct. 19, with the bear in the back of the truck. At that gathering, they decided along with other students to place the carcass near the main entrance of campus.

They said while they were taking the bear to the campus, they took random political signs and put them on the bear’s head to try to prevent blood from getting on the truck bed.

Johnson said that the incident was(not) politically or racially motivated, but was just a prank..

An investigation continues to determine if charges should be filed.

After reading what I read on blogs across the Web yesterday, this explanation will not satisfy any of the blood thirsty left, blinded by hatred toward McCain and Palin. But until such time as authorities conclude something different, I’ll accept their explanation and hope I won’t be attacked by some left-wing crazed idiot.

Tom Remington

In what could be described in many ways, the act of dumping a dead black bear cub on the steps of Western Carolina University, is despicable to say the least. The bear, weighing an estimated 40 pounds, was also adorned with Obama campaign signs.

Sensible people will know that such an act could have been perpetrated by almost anyone but the act in itself is done in order to incite an entire host of bad feelings, something the present campaign doesn’t really need right now.

Authorities are investigating in order to find out who is responsible for such a ridiculous act.

Tom Remington

Last week I reported that an 8-year old boy from Florida had been attacked by a black bear in the Smoky Mountain National Forest. His father had to fight the bear off, both suffering from cuts and bruises but fortunately no serious physical injuries occurred.

In my report last week I also made mention that another report made the repeated claim that bear attacks are rare. Well, here’s something even rarer. It appears that park officials are stating that the 8-year old, Evan Pala, was stocked as prey by the bear.

The black bear that attacked an 8-year-old Florida boy in Great Smoky Mountains National Park last week “stalked the boy as prey,” park officials said Monday.

Most people also don’t know that in the past 10 years, bears in Smoky Mountain National Park have injured people 8 times, killing one.

A lot of people visit that park but people need to be made aware that provoked or not, bears are there and they can and will meet with your acquaintance. Be prepared.

Tom Remington

Here we go once again. An 8-year old boy was playing by the stream in Great Smoky Mountain National Park when he was attacked by a young black bear. His father chased the bear away but not after both sustained non life-threatening injuries.

And in response, as is typical, park officials said, “an attack like this is very uncommon”.

Tom Remington

Dan, a.k.a. Moose, at Moose Droppings, is reporting that two deadly cobra snakes may have been released somewhere in Onslow County, North Carolina. It seems the group is trying to push legislation to ban ownership of exotic animals and authorities suspect members of this group released the snakes to create a scare and influence public opinion.

Moose is calling it an act of terrorism and I think I agree.

Tom Remington

This can’t be true! If you read or listen to what the lovers of predators have to say, these scavenging, murdering animals we call predators have no real affect on wild ungulate herds, other than what they believe to be selective harvesting of the weak and disabled and making the preyed upon become “more wild”. This is where we would insert the Disney theme song of “When you wish upon a star. Makes no difference who you are.” La, la, la, la…….

Okay, so I’m feeling a bit nasty and cynical this morning. And with that I’m taking a story and making an attempt to spin it into something bigger and more controversial than it really is but I do have a point to make.

The Charlotte Observer is reporting that finally the experimental elk herd in the Smoky Mountain National forest, near the Cataloochee Valley in North Carolina, is showing growth – something it hasn’t done since the elk were brought to this area back in 2001. At that time 52 elk were dropped off and the population has never really changed up until park authorities decided to capture about 10 bears and move them out of the area. Since that time, the number of elk has increased to around 86 and the bull to cow ratio has also changed significantly which should increase the chances of more cows giving birth to young elk.

The article clearly states that the reason for the growth is because most of the bears with a discerning appetite for baby elk have been moved.

What helped turn the static population around was the removal of black bears that were preying on the new-born calves, park spokesman Bob Miller said last week. As a result, calf survival rose in 2006 and 2007, lifting the 2005 population of 54 animals to at least 86.

So, there you have it. Proof that bears kill elk and have a negative effect on the herd. Ok, so it’s not quite that simple. Well, at least I’m willing to admit it.

I suppose I should also point out that park personnel indicated that the cow elk are learning to adapt to the habits of the predators.

In addition, Miller said, adult cows are getting smarter about coping with bears, moving away from locations bears frequent to more remote places to give birth in June and July.

It might be just as accurate to say that the adult cow elk are better adapting to their own habitat and learning where better calving areas would be. Let’s also not forget that the bear aren’t stupid. When they get hungry enough, they will also adapt and find the elk.

The point to all of this is that predators do have an impact on elk, moose and deer as examples. In this case when the elk were introduced, the numbers weren’t great enough to sustain and grow over the number of bears in the park. With man removed from the predator list within the park, the bear is top of the chain. Once the bear numbers were reduced, the elk have shown signs of growing in numbers. This is a clear indication, I would think, that management is necessary in order that to have a sustainable herd of elk, deer and moose, you have to make sure that the number of predators doesn’t get out of control.

Man has been the top dog in the food chain since the beginning of time and is still a necessary part in the balance of things. We have too many who think that man needs to be taken out of that chain and let Mother Nature take care of things. They fail to want to believe that man eating beast is part of Mother Nature’s plan. They also have lost sight of the fact that man has a right to protect themselves and their property.

I have no problem with predators. I do have a problem with allowing predators to grow unchecked while destroying game animals and private property. We have examples of this all around us and now some communities are scrambling around trying to figure out how to deal with it.

In other areas we have caring and concerned groups and individuals trying to find ways of increasing habitat for such animals as deer, moose and elk and at the same time demanding that predators be allowed to grow unchecked. It’s not an original statement to say that a habitat program is a waste of time without one that includes predator control.

With all of this said, I wonder what the future looks like for Great Smoky Mountain National Park? Time and money was spent in order to move the predator bears away from the elk herd. Officials say the bears returned but not until after the young elk had gotten bigger and better able to fend for themselves.

If the elk herd continues to grow, which is the intent of the park authorities, will it become a problem? Will there one day be too many elk? Too many bear? How long before more predator lovers will be insisting, like in Colorado, that the park will need to have wolves to make it “more natural”?

Only a matter of time.

Tom Remington