Dumber than the average

The people of Anchorage have a problem. It's a problem that wasn't formerly such a big deal, but, well, times change and people become more sensitive. No, the problem isn't that their view of Russia is getting obscured.

It's bears.

That's right, folks. A state that hosts a thriving bear population, and a city surrounded largely by wilderness, is starting to complain about the bears. Admittedly, there have been maulings in recent years that is starting to provoke the concern, but this does seem a bit odd. Especially given one of the main people quoted in the article. That person, a recent transplant from Washington state made mention that they never saw bears before, but now they see them all of the time.

Well, really? Do you think that might happen? It's not like Alaska isn't known for having a large number of bears, and a lot of the state is still a relatively untouched wilderness. In fact, most of the time, those are drawing points for people wanting to live in, or simply visit, the state. Things are changing, because the bears are being a little more aggressive, but, in their defense, they've been living this close to humans for so long that this is a natural progression. After all, typical posturing that the bears did to encourage people to back off may have just stopped working, because of the familiarity. Remember folks, these are wild animals, and they're more likely than not simply trying to protect their young and their territory.

Ultimately, on one hand we can sympathize with the people of Anchorage who are having this difficulty, but we also sympathize with the bears. It's just a shame that there aren't 49 other states that some of the more worried people could move to, possibly with a smaller concentration of bears.