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- LETTERS, Page 6Loaded for Bear
-
- Whatever was John Skow thinking when he wrote that "Bears,
- these days, behave like large raccoons" (ESSAY, Nov. 13)?
- Skow's right about their being "smart" and "cute." He's dead
- wrong about bears' being "virtually harmless." Get between a
- 350-lb. black bear and what it wants to eat, and you are in
- serious trouble. Just ask any ranger who's had experience in the
- Smoky Mountains. Black bears do not get along well with people.
-
- John E. Ross Plainfield, N.J.
-
- Skow's description of hunters was a cynic's delight,
- although perhaps too lighthearted for those of us whose lives
- have repeatedly been violated by the "heroes" he describes.
- Most recently, my German shepherd came home from the woods and
- marsh to lie down in a favorite spot where she felt safe; she
- put her nose on her paws, closed her eyes and died. She had been
- killed by an arrow from a hunter's bow. This time it was only
- a dog that died -- an extraordinarily kind working farm dog, my
- beloved companion.
-
- Bobbye S. Wicke Aberdeen, N.C.
-
- As a registered Maine guide, I have spent decades searching
- for the most elusive animal in nature: an antihunter capable of
- rational and original thought. Skow is such a creature.
-
- John F. Sherwood Belfast, Me.
-