How Much More Can We Bear?
Summary: Goodness gracious, great balls of fur! Another bear is spotted by human beings! Reporter: Wendy Bell, WTAE Channel 4 Airtime: 1 minute, 25 seconds on June 18 Highlights: * When anchor Wendy Bell astonishes and amazes us: "Another black bear, roaming a little too close for comfort. This time, it was Uniontown, Fayette County, and folks grabbed their cameras to catch a glimpse." * When she continues to bedazzle us with this disclosure -- "Tonight, and only on 4, our cameras roll as the handsome yearling cruises the back yards of Evans Street looking for one thing: easy food." * When a woman identified as "SAW BEAR IN BACKYARD" unravels this gripping account: "I saw the black bear coming over my chain-link fence and the policemen were in the other yard, they were screaming for me to get inside." * When Bell builds on SAW BEAR IN BACKYARD's comments: "The bear climbed up her tree. Her daughter freaked, thinking it was her dog, named Bear, who'd climbed up the tree and was gonna get shot by police." And indeed, we then hear a real shot! * When Bell explains, "Officials shot the yearling with a slow-acting, but safe tranquilizer, but look at this -- the little guy wasn't having it, scooting right back down, darting around, only to be shooed right back up, where the sedative ultimately took effect. An officer climbed up with a rope, gently lowered the bear down, and a gaggle of officers carried the bear to a waiting truck." * When a veterinarian explains, "Better to have the bear sedated and outta here than run around loose in downtown Uniontown." * When Bell, back in the studio, observes, "All right, seriously -- that makes more than a dozen bear sightings this spring from Fayette County to Allegheny, and officers say the number-one thing bears like to munch on? Birdfeeders." What We Learned: If bears prefer munching on birdfeeders best, then we should be safe. Unanswered Question: How many officers constitutes a "gaggle"? And shouldn't they be afraid of Dan Onorato? News Value: 3. The bear beat is getting a little ... beat. But while we're down in Fayette County, after a Connellsville Township man was bitten by a poisonous snake, KDKA-TV's David Highfield followed up with a piece in which he passed along expert advice on what to do in the unlikely event you've been bitten by a snake: "Don't use ice. Don't use a tourniquet, and you should not try to use any device that sucks out that poison." How come we never get advice on what to do if we get shot?
