There is a world somewhere between reality and fiction. Although ignored by many, it is very real and so are those living in it. This forum is about the natural world. Here, wild animals will be heard and respected. The forum offers a glimpse into an unknown world as well as a room with a view on the present and the future. Anyone able to speak on behalf of those living in the emerald forest and the deep blue sea is invited to join.
08-04-2016, 06:49 PM( This post was last modified: 08-05-2016, 01:03 AM by peter )
(08-04-2016, 03:27 PM)brotherbear Wrote: I would suppose that this is as good as any place to post this. I am thoroughly enjoying this site; great bunch of posters here. Sanjay has been doing an excellent job. A great many highly knowledgeable people here from whom I have been learning a great deal. What I miss though are the few actual bear enthusiasts that used to be active on the 'the other site' - AVA. I would love to see the occasional visit from Ursus arctos middendorffi, whom ( if I am remembering right ), Peter has actually spent some time with. He has the greatest scientific knowledge of bears of anyone that I know of. I would also greatly enjoy seeing the return of Big Bonns. He was not so much the "scientific type" but was is very "bear savvy" and had over time acquired a huge amount of data and reports. Unfortunately, I never learned his name and have no means of contacting him. So, Polar, a very good poster himself, and myself are the only two bear enthusiasts here.
When I joined the debate on bears and tigers on AVA many years ago, I got a pm from Bonns. We exchanged a few ideas in this way, but it didn't happen often. I don't know why he left the debate after some years, but I remember a post in which he wrote he had started a family. Furthermore, one has to remember the climate had rapidly deteriorated. Bonns was targeted by a tiger poster who later also left the debate. The point to remember is AVA didn't collapse because of the controversy between lion and tiger posters only.
Grahh was one of the most active bear posters when I had joined AVA. He too was involved in clashes and left to start his own forum some years later. Warsaw joined him. I visited the site every now and then and noticed Grahh wasn't very active. Warsaw was, but he was one of the few. The site is still in the air, but my last visit was some months ago.
Warsaw was the one who most often responded to my posts on tigers and bears. Most unfortunately, he, ehh, didn't appreciate my contributions. At the start, he tutored me, but later on the dislike developed into a kind of vendetta. In the end, I had no option but to respond. He later tried to get to some kind of understanding, but by then I was about done. A bit of a pity, as Warsaw has access to good information (Russia) and often featured in interesting debates.
There was another poster who had good information on bears and tigers in Russia. Alexious3, however, left after AVA had exploded. As far as I know, he isn't posting anywhere.
Ursus, who joined AVA a bit later, is different from the others in that he uses a debate as a means to get to a result. One could say his approach was related to his profession (he was a student at the time he participated), but my take is it was a result of his character. When I read he intended to visit relatives in Europe, I invited him to come over. He did. In the three days or so he was my guest, we talked tigers and bears most of the time. As we got along, we discussed starting a forum as well. It didn't happen because graduating took a lot of time, whereas Sanjay made me an offer I couldn't refuse.
Bonns, Grahh, Warsaw, Alexious and Ursus all had access to good information and were the most active contributors in threads in which big cats and bears featured. As quite a number of tiger posters participated as well, the conditions to produce were plenty ok. Although a lot of good information was exchanged over the years, the climate never was very friendly. There were different reasons, but if I was to say bears and big cats are natural enemies I would be quite close. Ability is important, but it seems some things are equally important, if not more so. A pity, as quality is the only factor that survives time in the end.
In order to overcome the differences and start a debate on big cats and bears, a forum, apart from strict moderation, needs members interested in good information at all times. Not something else. This is admittedly not easy but if it can be done with lions and tigers, one could say big cats and bears should be in reach as well.
In other words. Anyone interested in a debate on big cats and bears and prepared to refrain from variations on the Republicans vs Democrats game is invited to give it a try.
Humans and bears - Wild encounters
