"The Bear Whisperer" on Animal Planet
Did anybody else catch this last night? It is about a guy named Steve Searles who works with bears in the town of Mammoth Lakes, CA. He earned a reputation as a great hunter, and when bears became a problem in town, the local law enforcement called him to do something about it.
I was fairly impressed with this guy. Although he is a longtime hunter, he prefers not to use deadly force in dealing the bears. In his words "a dead bear doesn't learn anything." His tactic is to change the behavior of the bears and train them to stay out of populated areas. He uses a variety of non-leathal weapons and gadgets (rubber bullets, flash-bangs, aerosol stuff, etc.) to chase bears away from homes and restore their natural fear of man.
He seems like the kind of guy that would fit in really well on WSF.
Here are a couple links about Steve Searles and the show:
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/tv/...whisperer.html
http://www.mammothtimes.com/content/view/120051/27/
http://news.sierrawave.net/eastern-s...-steve-searles
