The Bear Facts (Yep, this one was just too easy)

I was watching the local early morning news today. I like to do that whenever I get worried that my blood pressure may be getting a little too low. For some reason, the folks at Channel 6 raise my dander (and blood pressure) more than the others.
They sensationalize everything. It's not that I mind sensationalism, but unless the story is somewhat sensational, it's just a let down by the time they tell the story they've been hyping.
This morning the story that had Julie Bragg just about ready to start hyperventilating had to do with Maymont Park's decision to euthanize its two bears, after one of the bears bit a child. It's pretty standard to do that when a wild animal bites a human, as the only way to test for rabies is to examine the brain of the animal. I guess they're trying to figure out what the animal must have been thinking.
Anyway, Julie Bragg and company kept hyping the story, proclaiming public outrage over the bears being put down. Greg McQuaid, who began the story by saying one of the bears "allegedly" had bitten the child (you don't want to falsely accuse a dead bear), was calling it a "firestorm." I admit, I was a little confused, inasmuch as the life of the child was riding on discovering if he could have rabies.
However, the real story was not about the outrage over the bears being put to sleep, but over the parents allowing their child to climb a restrictive outer fence and get close enough to be bitten. That I can understand. Although I do think some people tend to overreact just a tad.
One thing you can always count on around these parts is stupid people getting their viewpoint aired on the local news. Regardless of the story, the news people can find someone who is ready to get in front of the camera and tell you, "that it just ain't fair, and I'm mad." I'm convinced that channel six keeps a mobile news truck in one of the local trailer parks so as to be able to put some angry illiterate on the air at a moment's notice. If you live in a trailer park and are reading this, then obviously, I'm not talking about you or your park.
Anyway, back to the bear story...one viewer, a woman named Faye, had emailed the station and proclaimed that the parents of the child should have been put down instead of the bears. What brilliance! Listen Faye they didn't kill the bears in an attempt to punish them. They had to examine their brains. Killing the parents, while perhaps making Faye happy, would do little to help medical authorities determine if the child needed painful rabies treatments.
Let me say right up front that it just ain't fair that these bears had to be killed, but, I think in the grand scheme of things, a child's life, even a stupid child with even more stupid parents, probably comes just a bit ahead of that of bears. I know you PETA folks won't agree with this. But, if there's one thing that I have never let bother me it's the opinion of PETA folks.
A spokeswoman from Maymont was interviewed and she did seem very sad that the bears had been killed. I think she would have been more believable, however, had she not been picking her teeth as she was interviewed.
Anyway, I feel my heart slowing down, so I'm going back to watch the news. Hope you have a nice day.