What a stir is being made in England about hunting the fox, a small, quiet, slinky animal. What about countries which deal - as sport, likewise - with animals that could turn on a human being and kill and possibly eat it, such as the bear? You may remember news reports about a few bears being transported from Romania to the Pyrenees in France. You may also remember that one, named Melba, who bore cubs after transport to France, was shot by a Frenchman who was not bear-shooting, but after smaller game. Anyway, Melba, who had her cubs with her, felt threatened by the man standing with a gun at the ready and made for him. When she got to within (from memory) six feet of him, he shot and killed her, in self-defence, he said. And who could blame him?
The French magazine Le Chasseur Francais has a solemn "Dear Reader" editorial, pointing out that France is not Romania. There, bears are all over the place, but managed. There is a reserve for the home shooters and one for foreigners. Both are vast. Each year the authorities decide how many bears from their many thousands may be shot. The foreigners pay "very dear" for the privilege, says the magazine, and these funds help pay for the ravages of the bears among the farm stock and as recompense for the forestry department's expenses.
But, asks the magazine, can you move the Romanian model to France? "Possibly not," it says, meaning, you would think, "damn-sure not." For there seems to have been a row about this shooting which amounts, the magazine claims, to making scapegoats of the hunters and foresters and turning the bear into a sacred animal. Tears have been shed over the death of Melba, writes the editorial, mother of two or three cubs ... would there have been the same reaction if a man had been killed?
The Romanians, it appears, have offered France a couple of their bears to replace "poor Melba". In doing so, asks the editorial, are they not, above all, offering us a lesson of nature? It ends enigmatically, or perhaps with heavy sarcasm: "In the Carpathians, only human beings are baptised."
You can, of course, meddle with nature to the extent of introducing animals or birds from other countries. The pheasant, the turkey, are only two examples. but when it comes to animals which may kill human beings, that is a different story. Y