They’re going to die, but why not kill a bear before it’s over? A “sick” kid in more ways than one…
http://wiat.com/2015/09/17/program-offers-bear-hunt-to-sick-kids/
(WBAY) — A program in Oconto County is assisting children with life-threatening illnesses by giving them a chance to hunt bears and spend more time outdoors.
“It’s very special, they get to bond,” said Bruce Watruba, Secretary of Oconto River Kids, “most people never expect to be able to bear hunt with their child.”
Bruce “Bearman” Watruba is part of Oconto River Kids, a program that brings kids with life-threatening illnesses into the woods, and gives them a chance to bear hunt.
“Most of these kids haven’t hunted before,” said Watruba, “and when they come up hunting, when they do tip a bear over, they are so excited.”
Kids like 16-year-old Lexie Joly, who has brain cancer.
“At first it [cancer] was scary,” said Lexie, “but now I just, go through every day and I fight. I’m all good.”
While she’s never been hunting until now, she’s glad she decided to head into the blind with her mom, and a guide.
“I came here first to bait, then we can here again to practice shooting the gun I’d be using,” said Lexie. “Now I’m here again for the bear hunt.”
Oconto River Kids is run completely on donations, and the generosity of local businesses.
“We’ve got area taxidermists that help us out,” said Watruba, “they give us discounts on the mounts, and we have a pretty good reputation in the area, with all the area businesses.”
This program wouldn’t be able to keep running if it weren’t for the 80-some volunteers and all the donations. Every bear tag used by one of the kids, has been donated by a hunter.
“In Zone B, it takes 10 years to get a tag,” said Watruba, “and yet, we’ve got these people that are giving us their tags to use to hunt.”
“They’re selfless, they don’t ask for anything,” said Robyn Joly, Lexie’s mom, “they just do it because they want to, and that’s the biggest thing.”
Lexie didn’t see a bear on her first day, but hopes to get one when she heads out with a guide later this week. She says, she’s grateful for the opportunity.
“It’s really cool that people just donate the bear tag, and all this, sponsors,” said Lexie, “I really thank them for this opportunity, I’ll probably never get this again.”
If you’d like to be part of Oconto River Kids, you can request information by sending a letter to:
Oconto River Kids
P.O. Box 288
Mountain, WI 54149
You can also visit their website at www.ocontoriverkids.org
Wildlife Photography© Jim Robertson
Exposing the Big Game 
This is so sick and beyond my comprehension. In deference to the child involved and quoted here, I will refrain from saying something terrible. Perhaps it’s a transference issue: The child dominates the bear by killing it – the bear representing the brain cancer.
She, and the bear, would be much better off playing Pac Man.
There was a story three years ago about a then 11-year-old girl who was waiting for a heart and liver transplant. Under the auspices of this program, she “bagged” a 335-pound black bear by, wait for it… shooting the bear in the heart. I’ve just done some googling and it seems this program is sponsored by USSA.
What can one say about this other than may death be swift for killer and mentor? Or maybe not so swift. Maybe slow, inevitable, and agonizing since not child nor mentor nor parent has learned a damn thing from being on this planet.
Thanks for these comments. Our human society is sociopathic, and this kind of sick idea reinforces it. Perhaps the child will die before be able to kill something.
I don’t know what to say about this. It’s the people and backers of programs like these who are at fault. The conceit of not only are people and their selfish needs more important, but most important, and they are giving other people the sense of you must kill something before you leave this planet, and you shouldn’t miss out on that experience! Thank God these killers are in the minority; as it is, our wildlife around the world is severely threatened by all of our activities.
Why not take them on a different kind of experience where life is celebrated instead of entitled to be destroyed by anybody human? I’m sure these kids must have some other things they’d like to experience instead of killing something! You’d think that kids and adults with some awareness of loss and death would not want that to be inflicted on another, totally innocent and apart from us, being. But that is lacking for some terrible reason. It’s a terrible message to teach. I don’t think these people or the children who accept that message really understand that animals are sentient beings just like them. Or maybe more so, I wonder at times.
It’s that gap, that disconnect in human minds that makes animal lives and suffering totally irrelevant. Besides, the hunting/gun groups are out to promote hunting in whatever ways they can think of, and they have actually sunk to this level. Well, no big surprise.
This is a bit off topic, but it’s something that has been on our minds here in New England. It’s so sad. The next time someone says how selfish people who don’t have children are, just take a look at this prime examples of motherhood and parenthood, and there are many more like them who bears, wolves, and housecats have beat by a mile as far as good parents go:
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/national/memorial-dedicated-baby-doe-deer-island/nnjJg/
The memorial for her is just one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen, a child’s bench and little fawn, and of course, a tree. It just speaks ‘child’. It’s an example of how terrible and yet how good people can be. So sad!
OMG, what fucking sick minds think of these ways to promote killing!!
My child is dying but I would love for him to shoot and kill a bear before dying!! Wow what a rotten bunch of sub-humans
What a pathetic way to prepare for leaving this earth–taking another’s life before losing one’s own.
Some years ago a group–I think it was Make A Wish Foundation–was asking for donations to help a 16-year-old critically ill boy achieve his dream of killing a bear before he died.
If that dying teen lived long enough to fulfill his wish of leaving a dead bear in the woods, then that short life was still just a little too long.