bear selfie - the foolishness of snapping near the animals !!

Enough has been written on ‘Selfies’ and the urge to post them on Social media – expecting to be noticed, rather to be ‘liked’ !.... A new craze, the bear selfie, has led to the US Forest Service to issue a plea to tourists to leave the animals alone. The desire to snap a picture with a large furry bear in the background is proving irresistible, especially at South Lake Tahoe in California.  Conventional wisdom stipulates that upon seeing a wild bear, one should not go near said bear.  In our school days, Questions used to galore on what one should do when one sights a Lion in a forest, or an elephant in a forest, as also the story of two friends – one fainting and other running away – with bear advising the person who fell down, not to have friendship with those who run away at the time of adversity.  So when one sights a wild bear – one would try to sneak away, run away or shout in fear – the new age would try to snap a quick selfie with bear in the background and instantaneously post it on social media !

There is stern warning message that - these selfies might get one killed. That huge thing in the background of the selfie might seem slow and fuzzy, but it could do some major damage in the time one waits for autofocus to get the shot just right.  Most bears in this world are much bigger than average man, much stronger and much faster than him. They also climb trees, so that's not a foolproof plan to get away from one. An article states that most bears are not conqueror types and typically don’t attach humans unless they feel threatened or are starving. So to keep this eons-long truce between our species in place, it is imperative that we reciprocate by not acting like clowns while visiting beautiful forests and the other domains of the mighty bear.

The trouble appears to be from those ‘selfie’ prone people posing  in front of bewildered bears that forest rangers in California have taken the unusual step of warning visitors to the woods to keep their distance from those massive wild mammals, even though they make great photo fodder. "Bears are unpredictable, wild animals and may attack if threatened,"  a forest supervisor for the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit in  CBS 13 TV. Bears are a little bit like Generation Xers -- very few of them are on Snapchat. So they aren't likely to be accustomed to people making odd, wild gestures nearby while pointing a strange, sometimes flashing device in their direction. Being forced to photobomb someone's selfie -- and in your own home, no less -- is enough to make anyone want to go on a mauling spree. And if that happens, everyone loses, because a bear who attacks a person may be captured and killed. So next time you visit the forest, please try not to become the person who finally triggers our overthrow at the claws of those huge, fuzzy land mammals next door, just to send a crazy bear snap that makes you look like a jackass anyway.

Wild animals are best left in the wild as they are …. ~ men who post selfies with tigers, and the women who love them, have been dealt a blow, in  New York, at least. The New York State Assembly recently  passed legislation that would prevent people from getting close enough to big cats to snap photos with them. In case you missed it, so-called tiger selfies have been roaming free on popular dating sites and apps such as Tinder, Hinge, and OKCupid, where "thousands of daters have turned to big cats to help them catch the eye of potential mates," according to a Wall Street Journal piece last month.

But while the media has largely cast A9004C as aimed at banning these so-called tiger selfies, its author, New York State Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, told CNET she was unfamiliar with the proliferation of the big-cat snaps on dating sites until just a few days ago.  While those pictures will be affected by the bill, Rosenthal intends it as a larger protective measure related to public safety and big cats, including tigers, lions, leopards, jaguars, and cougars that commonly appear at circuses, roadside zoos, and county fairs. "The purpose of this bill is to protect animal caretakers, those interacting with wild animals, bystanders, and the animals themselves by preventing direct contact between wild animals and members of the public," the legislation reads.

Wild animals are by nature unpredictable and humans better leave them at that.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

14^th Nov. 2014.

Inputs taken from : www.cnet.com