Everybody with a computer, TV, smartphone, or friend with one has heard about the bear rescued after falling from a tree in Colorado only to be hit and killed by two cars about 10 days later (hit by two, killed by one or the other).  A spokeswoman for Colorado Parks and Wildlife said the bear was probably trying to return to its home ground not unlike another bear they attempted to relocate a couple years ago.

Between the bear rescue and bear loss there was another story.  A dolphin got trapped in a coastal area outside Laguna Beach after wandering in during high tide and not getting out before low tide. Or so they said.  Now, officials are saying that even at low tide the dolphin has enough vertical space to move back out into the ocean but likes it where he is.  Although there has been talk about moving the dolphin if he doesn’t move himself, everybody seems to be standing pat.  And a good thing or he might get hit by a couple of cars also.

Ok, we’re joking there.  But usually nothing good comes of trying to relocate animals, wild, tame, intelligent, or needing a little help.  There are all sorts of proponents of animal rights that do good things when trying to rescue abused puppies and tormented kittens that feel when wild animals intrude on somebody’s back yard that they should be put back where they came from.  The problem is that often, where they came from was right around that back yard. 

People keep wild animals as pets – snakes, alligators, and even lions and tigers and bears are caught or bought when young and seem to make great pets at 6 or 8 weeks old.  After a couple of years they start acting like and are recognized for the wildlife that they are.  Not wanting to explain to the wife who ate the entire contents of the refrigerator they are sent on their way.

Quite often, as more and more houses are built on land that used to be just rocks and hills, the animals that still live there are forced to share their former rural space with suburbia.  And they do.  They live out of garbage cans, dumpsters, and landfills.  Eventually one evening, one gets caught pilfering the cafeteria discards behind the dish room and scampers up a tree only to lose his usual surefootedness and fall into the waiting dart of a tranquiller gun.  A few quick trusses, a quick drive 50 or 60 miles away, the former semi-wildlife is in the real wild, and doesn’t like it.  So he tries to work his way back with less than, or perhaps more than smashing results.

So we’re offering this advice.  We heard similar from our parents and now pass it on.  If you should see a bear going through your garbage, he’s probably more scared of you than you are of him.  But just in case, leave him alone.  There’s plenty for everybody.

Now, that’s what we think.  Really.  How ‘bout you?