erial
06-29-2010, 07:25 PM
First comment: They put the wrong one to death.
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Smokies hiker: 'I'm in no way a villain' in death of Laurel the bear
By Matt Lakin
Originally published 12:57 p.m., June 24, 2010
Updated 04:16 p.m., June 24, 2010
KNOXVILLE - Sean Konover didn't want the bear killed, but he hopes it didn't die in vain.
"I'm in no way a villain," he said today. "I didn't feed the bear. I knew better than that. I'm just as upset as other people are, but I'm the one they're pointing their fingers at."
National Park rangers cited Konover, 26, of Wilton, Conn., on a misdemeanor charge of disturbing an animal for crossing paths with a black bear that bit him in May. The encounter spelled the bear's death.
Konover was hiking the Laurel Falls trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on May 12 when he got within about a foot of the bear to shoot its photo, according to a federal citation. The bear, unafraid of humans after being fed by tourists, bit him on the left foot.
Park officials captured the bear and killed it, despite a public outcry from animal lovers. Advocates nicknamed the bear "Laurel" and organized a Facebook campaign to save it.
Park policy decrees an automatic death sentence for any bear that injures a human, spokeswoman Nancy Gray said.
Konover said today he hasn't decided whether to fight the citation. He said he's sorry the bear had to die, but he hopes its death will make others remember the danger of taming wild animals.
"It was really upsetting that it had to happen that way," he said. "But maybe something positive will come out of all this so other bears won't have to die."
Read the complete story Friday online and in the News Sentinel.
http://media.knoxnews.com/corp_assets/asphalt/_sites/kns/img/header_print.gif
Smokies hiker: 'I'm in no way a villain' in death of Laurel the bear
By Matt Lakin
Originally published 12:57 p.m., June 24, 2010
Updated 04:16 p.m., June 24, 2010
KNOXVILLE - Sean Konover didn't want the bear killed, but he hopes it didn't die in vain.
"I'm in no way a villain," he said today. "I didn't feed the bear. I knew better than that. I'm just as upset as other people are, but I'm the one they're pointing their fingers at."
National Park rangers cited Konover, 26, of Wilton, Conn., on a misdemeanor charge of disturbing an animal for crossing paths with a black bear that bit him in May. The encounter spelled the bear's death.
Konover was hiking the Laurel Falls trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on May 12 when he got within about a foot of the bear to shoot its photo, according to a federal citation. The bear, unafraid of humans after being fed by tourists, bit him on the left foot.
Park officials captured the bear and killed it, despite a public outcry from animal lovers. Advocates nicknamed the bear "Laurel" and organized a Facebook campaign to save it.
Park policy decrees an automatic death sentence for any bear that injures a human, spokeswoman Nancy Gray said.
Konover said today he hasn't decided whether to fight the citation. He said he's sorry the bear had to die, but he hopes its death will make others remember the danger of taming wild animals.
"It was really upsetting that it had to happen that way," he said. "But maybe something positive will come out of all this so other bears won't have to die."
Read the complete story Friday online and in the News Sentinel.