A bear, a hospital, two officers, and a gun

[twency]

A story from the AP reports on interesting incident in VA:

Bear Wanders Through Hospital in Virginia

ROCKY MOUNT, Va. - An adult black bear was shot and killed after it wandered into a hospital, authorities said.

The 300-pound male bear was first spotted walking along a street Tuesday night, authorities said. When the bear wandered in front of the nearby Carilion Franklin Memorial Hospital, it activated a sensor that opens the hospital's doors.

The bear walked into a computer room and two police officers shut the door behind the animal, said Lt. Karl Martin of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

Officers planned to sedate the bear, but they were worried what might happen if the bear got loose in the hospital. So an officer shot and killed the bear.

No one was injured. The computer room sustained minor damage, Martin said.

How much you wanna bet PETA or some similar group will issue a statement saying they are either "shocked" or "saddened" that these officers "needlessly" took the life of this "noble creature?"

-twency

By the way, what gun should one use (that a police officer is likely to have at ready disposal) to kill a bear trapped in a hospital?
_________
"The parent who complained, Karen Young, doesn't want fish-shaped toy guns in her house because she accidentally shot an ex-boyfriend one time when the gun she was beating him with went off."

 

[BeLikeTrey]

Funny Story up until the end

I'm sure PETA (PITA) will be as rabid as ever on this one. Bear, It's whats for dinner Any chance of donating his meat to a shelter to feed the hungry? would diffuse public "outcry" I should think. I all seriousness... It would be nice if they could've tranq'ed the bear but they were the ones on the scene and their judgement should be the most respected.

 

[TallPine]

The bear walked into a computer room

On the internet, no one knows you're a bear

 

[BeLikeTrey]

Well.... Are you?

TallPine, Are YOU?

 

[magsnubby]

As it turns out , it wasn't really a bear. It was a disgrunteled employee disguised as a bear trying to hack into the personel records to give himself a raise. Guess the cops don't like hackers.

 

[TallPine]

BeL, you'll never know .....

Anyway, I have my own computer here in my cave and I don't need to sneak into a hospital to try to use their computer.

 

[Henry Bowman]

TallPine, that's the best laugh I've had all week!

 

[sturmruger]

My wife works at a hospital with one of those automatic doors. I better warn her.

 

[Sindawe]

SHOCKED and SADDENED about the NEEDLESS death of this NOBLE creature

Does that qualify? Even though I'm not a member of PETA?


Serously though, based on the data supplied in the AP article, the Officers may have jumped the gun, so to speak. IF the bear was truley trapped in the computer room, AND the bear was making no attempt to escape the confines of the the computer room AND the computers were not running critical lifesupport/monitoring duties. If all the above conditions are true, whats the harm in waiting for animal control? If the bear starts making attempts to escape the computer room, or starts to smash up things then *I'd* shoot the bear. If not, hang out for animal control and let them make the bear's visit a memorable, unplesant experience so he would disinclined to visit again.

But I'm just armchair quarterbacking here. BeLikeTrey is correct, the officers were the ones on the scene who were charged with making the call. It would be nice the the meat and fur from the animal were put to some good use. Though I suspect it did not happen, since who knows what bears eat, and there is a risk of tranmisson of some nasty parasites from undercooked bear meat. Maybe a bear skin rug for the pediatrics ward of the hospital? I'm sure the kids would find it fascinating.

 

[oweno]

So this bear walks into a computer room and ....

But seriously folks, a coyote did the same thing in Portsmouth, NH a while back. Wandered about, left, and was later shoot by the local PD. If you have doors that open automatically, these thing seems to happen.

So this panda walks into a bar, orders a sandwich, eats it, pulls out a gun, shoots it into the ceiling and heads out the door. Bartender says: "What'd you do that for?" Panda pulls out a book about wildlife, tosses it to the bartender and says "Look me up."

Bartender looks up 'panda' and reads "Large, bear-like animal found in China. Eats, shoots, and leaves."