* * Even bears' lives matter, or should

“The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong in the world,” said Dr. Paul Farmer, Harvard-educated anthropologist, humanitarian, and physician. Those of us who agree with this, or share a modicum of empathy or human dignity, wept tears of dread and remorse when reading the recent polemic, “The time is now to expand bear chase season,” by Jeff Ell. In it, Ell argues for expanding the legal duration of the practice of using attack dogs to chase wild bears.

If any of us contemplated such an atrocity being inflicted on our family pet, our cocker spaniel or Persian cat, we’d be horrified. So Ell begins making his case by scaring us into believing that wild bears embody an essential risk by presenting the case of an unfortunate victim from New Jersey in September. In reality, this justification is absurd, given that human fatalities by bears are exceedingly rare. Only 15 people have been killed in black bear attacks in the Lower 48 states in over 100 years and none in Virginia whatsoever! More people are killed by lightning strikes or dog attacks (ironically) than by bears.

Beyond that, chasing bears with dogs and shooting them out of trees can only be considered “sport” in a warped bastardization of the word. In the insanely brutal, abhorrent practice of bear chasing, hound dogs that typically spend better than 99% of their lives chained to a doghouse are set loose in the woods in search of prey. Imagine the instinctual horror felt by a bear being hotly pursued by a pack of attack animals! Best case, the bear escapes injury by climbing a tree. But often even if the bear escapes, it is heavily traumatized and too exhausted to persevere, and it dies. In many cases, the bear is injured, often fatally. The dogs can be injured as well. During hunting season, the unhurried hunter, tracking the dogs through electronic equipment, leisurely shoots the bear which tumbles to the ground.

Sure, hunting may have historic local roots and even Biblical origins, in that in Genesis 1:26 it is stated that the Lord gives man dominion over animals when God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” However, not all hunting practices are created equal. This is no more “sport” than shooting grazing cows in a pasture. Fair hunting for food may involve more risk for the hunter, but isn’t that the point? It is a stretch to interpret this Biblical passage to give humans the right to vicious acts of cruelty, to inflict pain on wild animals for human entertainment.

Can anyone who chastised Michael Vick and his mates for sanctioning dogfighting find bear chasing any less detestable? Vick was scorned, castigated, and imprisoned for his barbarism. Is dogfighting any more cruel or repugnant?

Former Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin proudly advocates and participates in the shooting of wolves and bears from airplanes, another sadistic “sport”. Why is she not similarly scorned? Wild animals have the same parental instincts and ability to feel pain as your dog or cat.

Surely there are more pressing ethical matters for us to ponder as a society. For example:

* Will we provide humanitarian assistance in Africa for those afflicted by Ebola or will we only deal with it by fencing contagious people out?

* Will we approach every conflict in the world with our own military force or will we work towards peaceful solutions?

* Will we continue to decapitate our mountains to mine coal, pump billions of tons of pollutants into the ground to mine gas, and pour greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that give rise to manmade global climate change or will we seek alternative, renewable energy?

* Will we continue to accept the astonishing proliferation of weapons of war in the hands of everyday citizens and the carnage that has resulted or will we work towards meaningful restrictions?

Condoning wild animal abuse is a window into our collective soul. If we cannot see this as the primitively savage activity that it is and work to end rather than expand it, what chance do we have for chances for humanitarian solutions to these other problems?

Expand the season for the bear chase? No. Let’s eliminate it entirely.