Cephas, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
By Bill Stokes
Kickass, the doorstop dog, cooperated with the keeper in researching William Faulkner’s “The Bear” short story, thinking that there might be some information helpful in pointing to the bear hound training travesty now occurring in the North woods of Wisconsin, and ONLY in Wisconsin, therefore attracting hounders from all over the country who release their dogs to rampage through the peaceful summer woods in pursuit of not only bear—many with cubs, but every other creature engaged in reproductive activity.
The preceding is a long sentence, but not nearly as long as the 4200 word sentence used by Faulkner in one version of “The Bear.” Unfortunately, even with all those words there is no real help from Faulkner in addressing the despicable and deteriorating relationship between men and bears, other than to make the point of man destroying the natural world in disgusting ways.
The beat goes on: the north becomes a bear-bait garbage dump and terrified animals of all kinds are abused beyond belief, all in the name of “sport” as largely designed by and for out-of-state narcissistic “fun” lovers.
