The taste of honey was just too tempting for a bear in Macedonia, which repeatedly raided a beekeeper's hives.

Now it has a criminal record after a court found it guilty of theft and criminal damage.

But there was an empty dock in the court in the city of Bitola and no handcuffed bear, which was convicted in its absence.

The case was brought by the exasperated beekeeper after a year of trying vainly to protect his beehives.

For a while, he kept the animal away by buying a generator, lighting up the area, and playing thumping Serbian turbo-folk music.

But when the generator ran out of power and the music fell silent, the bear was back and the honey was gone once more.

"It attacked the beehives again," said beekeeper Zoran Kiseloski.

Because the animal had no owner and belonged to a protected species, the court ordered the state to pay for the damage to the hives - around $3,500 (£1,750; 2,238 euros).

The bear, meanwhile, remains at large - somewhere in Macedonia.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/h...295559.stm


serbian turbo-folk music

sorry wrong forum

jami0mckay said:

omg.

Should the state have to pay for a bear's misbehavior?





Can a bear even misbehave?

CarrieMpls said:

I heard the Judge was corrupt

jami0mckay said:

no, you're spot on! let's discuss the changes to the Macedonian legal system since the Gruevski administration has taken over.

also, i'm curious as to whether the bear may be a member of the Macedonian Orthodox Church or the Macedonian Byzantine Catholic Church, and the implications of this crime on the respective parishes!

Well, if the government would provide for better social welfare programs and preventative measures, we wouldn't have this problem in the bear population would we?

I mean, call me a liberal hippie, but we're all in this together right?


Bears are not the problem--it's the system!

IrresistibleB1tch said:

I think the bear favours buddhism over other religions though he prefers to call it a way of life rather than a religion...



plural bear edit
[Edited 3/14/08 6:56am]

Imago said:

your a liberal hippie.

jami0mckay said:

IrresistibleB1tch said:

if I can somehow get this story in this thread it may just become relevant ish


http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/0....html?.v=5

jami0mckay said:

CarrieMpls said:

Dont you mean: misbeehavior and missbeehive???





I know.....people send me this picture all the time...

Sowhat said:

IrresistibleB1tch said:

i'm thinking he's protestant. this was an act of defiance to show that they aren't going to sit around and take it any longer.

ehuffnsd said:

did he nail a note to the beekeeper's door?

IrresistibleB1tch said:

i think he's more of a calvanist than a Luthern.

ehuffnsd said:

oops - my bad...

CarrieMpls said:

This brings up some interesting ethical/legal issues.

CarrieMpls said:

jami0mckay said: