Dead bear cub, campaign signs found at Western

Western Carolina University found itself in the center of national media this week after a prank was pulled involving a dead bear and Barack Obama campaign signs.

Campus maintenance workers found the bear, a 75-pound cub, at approximately 7:45 a.m. Monday in front of the school entrance at the Catamount statue.

The animal had been shot in the head, and Obama campaign signs had been placed over the head wounds. Workers were quoted in The Asheville Citizen-Times saying the bear had been “dumped in a hurry.”

The stunt was determined Tuesday to have no political motivation.

Investigators identified seven students who were associated with the incident, and interviews with the students suggested that the bear’s placement was only a prank.

Western Campus Police Chief Tom Johnson said in a statement released by the university that the students had found the bear already dead due to a gunshot wound while searching for firewood during a camping trip Saturday night.

Apparently, the students then placed the bear in the back of a pickup truck and took the bear’s body to a party in an off-campus apartment complex, according to the Citizen-Times.

The university said in its statement the seven individuals, while at the party, decided to take the bear to school.

This is where the political signs came into play: the students took the “random” signs, stapled them together, and placed them over the bear’s head in order to cover the wound and keep blood from spilling into the truck during the trip to campus.

Officials said the bear was finally dumped at Western’s entrance at about 2:40 a.m. Monday, and the students returned to their apartments after taking the bear to campus.

After the cub was found, N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission officers took the bear’s carcass.

As of press time, the seven students have not yet been named, and no charges had been filed.

Campus police and state wildlife officers planned to discuss the possibility of charges with a district attorney, according to the Citizen-Times.
Western Chancellor John W. Bardo said in a statement released by the university, “I am pleased to hear that this situation appears to be a stupid prank.”

Although this incident at Western was originally thought to have a political motivation, and now campus officials have determined through interviews there was no such thing, the prank’s explanation leaves some unanswered questions.

Why did the students wait to place something over the bear’s wound until they were bringing it to school?

If the bear had already been in the truck since Saturday night—a period of approximately 24 hours—why was the issue of getting blood in the truck a problem?

It looks like there would have been a considerable amount of blood from the cub’s wound in the pickup truck to begin with.

Was it really a prank, or is something trying to be covered up by either the students involved or university officials?

Whether the incident was politically motivated or not, Parker Miller, a student from the university, held a counter protest Tuesday when he sat in front of the Catamount statue and placed his own head through a McCain and Palin campaign sign.

Miller then draped his coat over the cat’s head, according to the Citizen-Times.

He said to Citizen-Times reporters, “The dead bear was wrapped in an Obama-Biden sign so basically I am trying to counter that argument. I wanted to put my jacket over the Catamount’s face so he wouldn’t have to see this anymore because I think he has been through enough.”

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