Bear grabs & kills baby

[The Mad Monk]

Link:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/stor...0p-11648c.html

Bear grabs & kills baby

Family vacationing at cottage in Catskills

By CELESTE KATZ, JOE MAHONEY and LEO STANDORA
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS


A bear snatched a Brooklyn infant from her stroller at a Catskills vacation spot and mauled her to death yesterday, officials said.


Horrified onlookers, including the girl's father, chased the animal away before a police officer killed it with one shot.


The bear attack on 5-month-old Ester Schwimmer came as her mother, Rachel, rushed her two other children — a son, Joseph, 4, and daughter Chayka, 2 — to safety in their cottage at the Machne Ohel Feige colony in Woodridge, 70 miles northwest of the city.


The baby had been sleeping in a stroller in front of the home when the rogue black bear suddenly came out of the woods about 2 p.m. and took her in its jaws.


The child's father was injured as he and friends — waving their arms and yelling — chased the bear into the woods until it finally dropped the little girl.


Moshe Katz, one of the would-be rescuers, said, "The baby was hanging from the bear's mouth like a doll. Everyone went to help, but the bear stood its ground until it finally opened its mouth and dropped the baby and a blanket that was around her."


But it was too late.


Officials said the infant, whose head and neck had been mauled in the bear's mouth, was pronounced dead on arrival at Ellenville Regional Hospital.


Wandered into colony


The Schwimmer family had traveled to the Sullivan County vacation spot — a place popular with New York Hasidic Jews — from their Williamsburg home.


State conservation officials said it was believed to be the first time a black bear — the only type native to the state — had killed anyone in New York.


Fallsburg Police Chief Brent Lawrence said the bear, a young 155-pounder, unexpectedly wandered into the colony of about 55 families, which was bustling with parents and kids enjoying the beautiful summer day, and touched off a panic.


"The baby's mother heard people yelling, 'Bear! Bear!' and ran her children into the bungalow," Lawrence said. When she came back out, the stroller with her sleeping little daughter was tipped over — and her baby was gone.


Isaac Abraham, a spokesman for the Williamsburg Satmar Hasidic community, said, "The bear grabbed the child out of the stroller and was dragging her to the woods.


"People started chasing it, throwing rocks and other stuff at it. Everybody was absolutely in panic."


Mike Fraser said Ester's father, Pincus Shaya Schwimmer, a real estate agent and rabbinical student, was injured when he ran up to the bear and blocked its way.


Lawrence said one of his officers got within 50 feet of the bear, which turned and climbed a tree. Officer David Decker fired one shot, killing the animal on the spot.


Ward Stone, the state's wildlife pathologist, said examination of the bear's carcass showed the animal had been "healthy with very little fat" and had no signs of rabies.


The bear had been eating berries, wild seeds — and apparently garbage because banana labels and plastic bags were found in its digestive system.


Although a witness said another bear was spotted in the area an hour after the baby was attacked, Stone said, "This is not likely to happen again for a long time."


Community in shock


Yesterday's tragedy occurred in the heart of what is known as the Borscht Belt, which beckoned to tourists and big-name stars in the post-World War II era.


Big hotels and bungalows attracted thousands of visitors each summer, many of them Jewish families from the city.


Abraham said the bungalow colony was shrouded in grief yesterday, with many weeping and praying well into the night. Others packed their cars and vans and left.


"The shock in this community is unbelievable. From the cradle to the grave, people make 70, 80 years," he said sadly. "This child barely made it five months."


He said Ester's parents planned to bury her last night in New Brunswick, N.J., he said.


Ester's grandfather, Mendel Schwimmer, of Kiryas Joel in Orange County, is a well-known figure in the upstate Orthodox community and an acquaintance of Gov. Pataki's.


"The governor does know the grandfather, and he will be reaching out to the family at the appropriate time to express his condolences," a spokeswoman said last night.


More than 150 mourners attended a service for the little girl in Kiryas Joel last night.


In Brooklyn, Rene Bernstein, 44, who lives in the same Keap St. brownstone as the Schwimmers, said the close-knit family always looked forward to summer vacation in the Catskills because "it was a great opportunity to let the kids play without any worry."


Lawrence said his department usually gets about a dozen calls each summer about bears getting into the trash.


"I'm going on 30 years here," he said, "and I've never known anything to even come close to this."


With Tamer El-Ghobashy

Anyone up for a bear hunt?

[Skanky Burns]

Thats sad.

before a police officer killed it with one shot.

Too late.

[MOBIUS]

It's an animal goddammit!

Whilst this is a terrible tragedy, we are the ones who have destroyed their habitat and pushed them back.

The problem about 'wild' animals these days is that they have become used to interacting with humans by eating from trash cans or even being fed by idiot members of the public.

Once they get used to this new source of food, they get bolder and bolder - until you have a tragic accident!

Your solution seems to be to make them extinct! Well IMO that sucks - that's why a great many animals around the World are extinct these days. Because either they're dangerous to humans or their livestock - or they have suffered from habitat loss.

Well in this case, this family was in the bear's habitat...

[Solly]

Let's destroy all animals we don't need for food.

[MOBIUS]

Let's kill all dogs because they occasionally kill small children or people...

We can get rid of those yappy Chihuahua's then...

[Solly]

I hate dogs. Disgusting, vicious things that **** everywhere.

[MOBIUS]

Originally posted by Boddington's
I hate dogs. Disgusting, vicious things that **** everywhere.

Yes! Kill them all and ship their carcasses over to Korea!

[Solly]

We can eat them here as well! I'm disappointed that I can't find a buthcer anywhere that sells dog, cat, horse...

[MOBIUS]

Originally posted by Boddington's
We can eat them here as well! I'm disappointed that I can't find a buthcer anywhere that sells dog, cat, horse...

Well you can get horse steaks and sausages over the channel in France...

Actually we should kill all horses too! Death to horses as they must all killed countless people over the years!

[MarkG]

we should kill guns too you know

[Solly]

Merhaba Markos!

Guns can't be eaten though..

[The Mad Monk]

Black bears were once endangered in the northeast, but through breeding and relocation programs we brought them back up to a healthy level. Unfortunately, they shot right past a healthy level and into an overcrowded and nuisance-to-humans level. People in rural and even some suburban communities have been trying to have the population culled back to a safer level, but animal rights and Earth Fist activists have successfully beaten them them down -- this with bears not only raiding farmers crops and park garbage cans, but also going into peoples backyards and kitchens.

Let those idiots try to stop a cull now.

Of course, it's already too late for one child, but perhaps we'll save others.

[TheStinger]

Originally posted by The Mad Monk
Black bears were once endangered in the northeast, but through breeding and relocation programs we brought them back up to a healthy level. Unfortunately, they shot right past a healthy level and into an overcrowded and nuisance-to-humans level. People in rural and even some suburban communities have been trying to have the population culled back to a safer level, but animal rights and Earth Fist activists have successfully beaten them them down -- this with bears not only raiding farmers crops and park garbage cans, but also going into peoples backyards and kitchens.

Let those idiots try to stop a cull now.

Of course, it's already too late for one child, but perhaps we'll save others.

You all just wanna go hunting

[Gary]

Why'd she not get the stroller and shout to the children to get in ? Rather than let the bear have the stroller while she ushered the children in ?

Seems to me that if you're in a dangerous part of the country, the responsibility is with you to take the right precautions.

[The Mad Monk]

This is the very first time I have ever heard anyone call the Catskills 'a dangerous part of the country'. Its better known as a place where old comedians go to entertain old retired couples in retirement villages.

[TheStinger]

Originally posted by The Mad Monk
This is the very first time I have ever heard anyone call the Catskills 'a dangerous part of the country'. Its better known as a place where old comedians go to entertain old retired couples in retirement villages.

That sounds very dangerous to me.

Have you ever seen groups of elderly people whipped up into a frenzy by a man telling jokes about his mother in law

[DaShi]

"We're here. We're queer. We don't want anymore bears."

[The Mad Monk]

Why'd she not get the stroller and shout to the children to get in ? Rather than let the bear have the stroller while she ushered the children in ?

I don't know the answer to that one, although it appears that the bear already had the baby when the mother got to the door.

[The Mad Monk]

Originally posted by DaShi
"We're here. We're queer. We don't want anymore bears."

...and that is so wrong on so many levels...

[Urban Ranger]

While this is a tragedy, remember that it is us humans who are invading the bears' natural habitats.

[The Mad Monk]

The natural habitat of humans is where ever we happen to live. That is our nature.

[Dr. Nick]

The next thing will be that the bear was brainwashed by Arab terrorists to terrorise Hasidic Jews vacationing in the Catskills.

Tragic accident. Then again, idiot parents.

[The Mad Monk]

Idiot in what way?

[TheStinger]

The Bears are just responding to the decison by the US Government to allow more oil exploration

[Zoid]

Tragic accident But I agree with UR and Mobius. It is a animal after all.

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by The Mad Monk
This is the very first time I have ever heard anyone call the Catskills 'a dangerous part of the country'

That's right, everyone knows that bears are actually big cuddly animals that are fun to feed and take pictures of.

[TheStinger]

Originally posted by Osweld


That's right, everyone knows that bears are actually big cuddly animals that are fun to feed and take pictures of.

According to that doccumentary cartoon set in an American national park bears only steal picnic baskets.
something has triggered them to go bad

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by The Mad Monk
The natural habitat of humans is where ever we happen to live. That is our nature.

Mad Monk, give me one reason why a bear shouldn't kill humans who are constantly harrassing it, or even if it just wants to have a snack?

Why shouldn't a shark eat or 'attack' a human swimming in the ocean?

Why shouldn't a venomous snake bite a person who's just steped on it? Or an insect bite a person who's trying to swat it?


Humans aren't above nature, but you're right - it is our nature to be so delusional and arogant as to think so.

[The Mad Monk]

Originally posted by Osweld


That's right, everyone knows that bears are actually big cuddly animals that are fun to feed and take pictures of.

As I said before, up until very recently bears have been endangered in that area, by which I meant pretty damn close to extinct.

The nature of the animal dosen't matter if it wasn't there to begin with. Those communities, by and large, are older than the recent bear presence.

[The Mad Monk]

Originally posted by Osweld


Mad Monk, give me one reason why a bear shouldn't kill humans who are constantly harrassing it, or even if it just wants to have a snack?

Why shouldn't a shark eat or 'attack' a human swimming in the ocean?

Why shouldn't a venomous snake bite a person who's just steped on it? Or an insect bite a person who's trying to swat it?


Humans aren't above nature, but you're right - it is our nature to be so delusional and arogant as to think so.

Oh, no reason at all, which is why such creatures must either be removed or made to associate humans with death rather than food.