An Attack of Common Sense? 

    As reported by Ben Hooper, Mr. Corey Hancock was hiking in Western Oregon. It was night, cold, and rainy. What else? It’s Western Oregon. Corey came upon a three-month old bear cub which at first glance appeared to be dead. It was not moving. Corey wisely waited a few minutes to see if there was a mother bear around. None came forward to claim the cub. Corey discovered the bear was not quite dead, and figured that if he left it, it would soon die. So, he picked it up and took it with him. He gave the bear CPR, which seemed to revive it some. 
    Corey ended up at an animal shelter in Salem, where he left the cub, and after some care and getting checked over by a veterinarian, the cub was forwarded on to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) who will give the bear another checkup. Evidently they didn’t trust the veterinarian’s skills. The animal shelter said that Corey was owed a big “thank you” for rescuing the bear. 

    So far it has been a nice story. The part that got me was the reaction of the ODFW. They said that Cory should have called them before removing the bear from the wild. Never mind that Cory had to walk two hours to get cell phone service. This kind of attitude lets us know that they cared more about their rules than about the bear. But why make that comment at all? Under the circumstances, it served no purpose except to make the Department look like a hidebound bureaucracy.      The ODFW then announced that they would turn Corey’s case over to the Oregon State Police with the implied threat he would be prosecuted for rescuing the bear. 
    The Oregon State Police, evidently being brighter than the ODFW, announced that no charges would be filed against Corey. Smart move. Someone in the OSP had an attack of common sense.