Not patient enough for bear training
By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune
It made news when animal trainer Stephen Miller was killed by a bear Tuesday at the animal training facility where he and the bear worked, near (wouldn’t you know) Big Bear Lake. It made news because the human was supposed to be smarter than the bear, and was supposed to have trained the bear not to hurt him. It didn’t quite work.
Nobody is hurrying to blame the bear for being a bear, although an investigation may change that. When Siegfried and Roy’s tiger nearly bit Roy Horn’s head off, they didn’t blame the tiger. They let the tiger live on, as though it had not tried to kill one of them.
A friend of mine trained horses, and one day he was working with a horse and the horse kicked him and wrecked his knee. He didn’t have the horse turned into dog food, just went ahead and kept working with the animal, as soon as he could walk again.
The animal tried to kick him again, but he was ready for it, and got out of the way in time. But my friend kept his patience.
“You can’t blame a horse for being a horse,” he said.
I don’t think I could be that patient. A few weeks ago, my cat for some reason decided to climb up my pant leg with her claws out. The scratches are just now healing. I didn’t whack the cat, but did bawl her out. Our relationship has cooled. We are no longer best buds. Just acquaintances.
I would no more try to train a bear, or a tiger, or a horse than I would run naked into a garden of rose bushes. And yet, I admire people who are brave enough and tough enough to do it. They wouldn’t care a bit if their cats clawed them in the thigh.
I don’t mind being around bears and tigers, but not until the taxidermist is finished with them.
