Speaking of animal rights (and food for bears!), via InstaPundit I see that in Canada, bears are now killing hikers:

A grizzly killed a runner near Canmore, Alberta Sunday. Isabelle Dubé was out running a popular woodland trail with two friends when the group chanced upon the bear. Dubé climbed a tree while her two friends fled toward the nearby Silvertip golf course to get help. By the time they returned with police and wildlife officers Dubé was dead.

The resort town of Canmore is in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies, near Banff National Park and several provincial parks and recreation areas. The golf course is on the northeast edge of Canmore, and the rugged wilderness begins immediately.

The healthy-looking, four-year-old, 200-lb bear (seen here drinking from a golf course pond) had been spotted near Canmore during the previous two weeks and frequented parts of the Silvertip course.

Last Wednesday it had a nose-to-nose encounter with someone out photographing wildflowers, but displayed only the curiosity normal to younger bears and no aggressive behavior even though the photographer was accompanied by a dog. (Bears find dogs annoying, but this one didn’t bark.) When the bear next returned to the golf course it was trapped, fitted with a radio tracking collar and relocated to the far edge of its territory.

I'm reminded of this non fatal cougar incident in California, in which a cougar prowling near a schoolyard was shot and killed by police. Like increasing numbers of other wild animals, cougars (er, "fluffy mountain lions") have lost their fear of man.

And while man has not lost his ability to defend himself, many people think that he should. Thus, instead of being treated like heroes, the police who shot the cougar near the school children were likened to the Americans at Abu Ghraib.

As I remarked in a previous post called "On Loving the Killers",

Much as I'd hate to think that there's any connection between the kneejerk defenders of mountain lions and the kneejerk defenders of suicidal Islamofascists, I worry that there is. Psychologically, at least. I suspect that for some people, a deep-seated self hatred takes the form of sympathy for killers of humans, whether motivated by religion (or what we're supposed to give a pass as religion), by ordinary criminality, or simply by predatory animal instincts.

Not that all things fluffy are bad, mind you. I just don't like it when fluff turns to snuff.

UPDATE (06/08/05): According to the National Geographic, coyotes are becoming more aggressive:

Wildlife specialist Robert Timm, of the University of California's Hopland Research and Extension Center, has documented some 160 coyote attacks and dangerous incidents over the past 30 years in California alone.

"There is an increasing problem with coyotes losing their fear of humans and becoming aggressive," Timm said.

"We've seen any number of instances where they came into a fenced yard and killed a small dog or cat," he added. "And we've documented pets taken from a child's arms or off a leash when being walked."

Working with Rex Baker of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona and United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services staff, Timm has developed a coyote-attack computer database.

The researchers are using the tool to search for patterns of precursor behavior—actions that might signal when coyotes are starting to become aggressive toward humans.

The scientists are also searching for possible solutions to what they see as a growing dilemma. In many U.S. states booming human populations and development have led to more people moving into and living in traditional coyote country.

For Glenn Reynolds, though, coyotes pose a different sort of dilemma. (Do rugs like that belong in the den, or the bedroom?)