CTV Calgary: Urban Bear Scare
Sticking with the unintentional theme of this week’s blog entries, here is a video I found about a black bear wandering into an urban neighborhood. Again, this is an example of an instance where the media could provide education about how to deal with bears, without making them seem like monsters.
From a broadcasting perspective, the only reason why this video aired is because the videographer got the visuals of the bear up in the tree, and the crowd. Without that, then there wouldn’t be a story. Some of the visuals were a little dark, such as the establishing shot at the beginning of the clip, but that is to be expected from breaking news and difficult conditions. You can still tell what’s going on in the clips, so the videographer did a very good job.
Not only that, but the reporter got an interview with the person who discovered the bear, and got him to explain what happened right on camera. Then they followed up with a second interview with a bear expert. Overall, the story was covered very well.
Although the bear in this video was represented reasonably well from an animal welfare perspective, the reporter failed to get to the main reason why bears are wandering into urban areas. They did mention the time of year (fall is the time of year when bears start getting ready for winter) but the main reason why bears are wandering into neighborhoods is because of food or garbage being left outside.
If people don’t want bears wandering around their neighborhood, then they need to be wary of food scraps being left out. In my opinion, people who live in areas where there are bear problems should learn how to better deal with them, instead of gawking at them from the sidewalk or being afraid of them. Parks Canada websites are a good way to start when learning about bears.
