Guests in Their Home

(National Park Service photo)

Houseguests often act respectfully toward their hosts.  National Park visitors don’t always think of themselves as guests.  But guests they are.  Mainly of the wildlife that is native to these lands.

Motorized vehicles enable humans to gawk at animals, up close and personal.  Yet these very same encounters have killed quite a few of our furry friends.  In Yosemite alone, there have been “more than 400 incidents of cars hitting bears” within “the last two decades.”

While a Yosemite ranger was recently assessing the condition of a fatally injured cub, he heard the repeated cries of its grieving mama bear.  She remained right nearby, hoping against hope that her baby would respond to these calls.  This continued on for “at least six hours.”

Such is the price that wildlife pays for being so-called protected.  From a human perspective, partial devastation seems better than complete extinction.  But the bears never really got to vote.

Resources

https://news.yahoo.com/mama-bear-stood-mournfully-over-050248056.html

Copyright July 21, 2021 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved