What Hit Me?

Bears have had a tough time staying out of the news lately—In the last month I've posted about bears stealing dumpsters and stopping into bars for a beer, and the mainstream media has been running reports regarding what seems like an uptick in bear-on-human attacks. Piers Morgan even had an attack victim on his program.

As you might imagine, I don't watch Piers Morgan, so I can't confirm or deny if he accused the bear of carrying a semi-auto.

This most recent story, from the Toronto Sun, takes a bit of a different angle, though. Here, our bear is the victim. Specifically, it's the video you may have seen of a young black bear getting hit by a thrill-seeking motorcyclist. The video comes from the helmet camera of the motorcycle driver, who was traveling along Highway 7 in southwestern British Columbia.

The driver, you'll notice, glances down at his odometer not long before he drills the young bear. It lists him at about 140 kilometers an hour (or 87 mph, for those of you who hate math).

Anyone that's been on the road has seen drivers like this before—whether it be in a car or on a bike. They decide to play a little daredevil, get revved up like they'd been listening to a marathon of Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone," and hit the gas. Most times, they get away with it. Other times, they hit something—like a bear.

The report lists the driver as a bit banged up, but not seriously hurt. The cub allegedly got away unscathed.

Hard to say what went through the biker's head as he was tumbling along the highway. I'm guessing some variation of "Anyone catch the number on that bear?"