Editor:
I am writing a response to Chester Machniewski’s letter (“A town safe for predators,” Jan. 31). I presume it may have been his response to my own letter (“Bears need preservation,” Jan. 17). Apparently my opinion, promoting harmony with nature, was somehow “the last straw” of something.
Instead of starting a numbers game about who is the most Coastal (although I have lived here my entire life and conveniently have a fairly familiar-sounding last name), I urge Mr. Machniewski to consider the content of last week’s paper. On the front page, naturalists are willing to face court proceedings to protect a vital piece of our local ecology. Page 4 asks for help in solving potential wildlife abuses. Page 7 is a memorial tribute to dear Clint Davy and his remarkable life’s work healing local wildlife out of his very own “housing estate!” On page 8 John Gleeson weaves together mention of Clint Davy with the shíshálh Nation’s dedication to wildlife being “an absolute necessity.” Because nature is the core of the Coast. But then, on page 9, I find a letter so out of sync with current community sentiments, I wonder if we just met the original “Internet Troll.”
“Bear attacks are common and people get badly injured and killed,” he writes. Could any historians of the Sunshine Coast please write in and let us know of a single case of a bear ever attacking a human? He writes, “Even having a deer come through your windshield will ruin your day.” How does Mr. Machniewski think the deer might feel? Of course, his blatant disrespect for all creatures “bigger than a sparrow” suggests that he might feel more concern for the windshield.
Hopefully this ethos belongs to what one might wistfully call a “dying breed” of folk so totally out of touch with the community’s core values that it boggles the mind. He may have lived here for 25 years, so he almost qualifies as a true Coaster according to a calendar. But the fact is, living here and disdaining the glorious, uncontainable wilderness is like living in the Sahara and insisting that every single grain of sand stays away from him – and his “housing estate.”
Sarah Roberts, Gibsons
