Man Eats His Own Dog

[raz]

Exactly. Risking starvation doesnt just mean he was peckish.

[Guest Maeby Fünke]

I guess what I'm trying to say is it has been suggested that he must have been starving, and therefore 'not in his right mind', to eat his dog. But this wasn't the case; he ate the dog after three days.

I'd say he made the decision to eat his dog out of desperation, and the fact that he was inexperienced and unprepared, not starvation.

Edited November 5, 2013 by Maeby Fünke

[mixeduppup]

Well the threat of starvation was pretty real since he spent 3 months after that slowly starving to death and eating his dog saved his life.

[coogie]

I truly can't imagine eating either of my dogs, but I have never been in such a position, so can't say 100% I wouldn't I guess. I would imagine reactions to situations change if you are staring down the barrel of a slow painful death and lack of food can make people do weird things. I'm never likely to be in the situation either because my breed and particularly my two are not the hiking/roughing it it the wilderness type. ( Neither am I to be honest).So barring some type of post apocalyptic situation it is never going to happen.

I am reserving judgement on what kind of a tool he is until I see whether a book and chat show appearances ensue, in my humble opinion eating your dog (which had reportedly saved your life) and then being wracked with guilt is one thing.

Making money off it after the fact is another.

I do have a hypothetical question though, if you were a breeder and the man in question had up to the point where he ate it of course, provided the dog with a good home;would you sell him another puppy?

[Bjelkier]

Hell no

[melzawelza]

I really don't think that anyone could say they wouldn't do this if they were faced with life or death.

I'd like to think I wouldn't but starvation is a pretty awful thing, that makes people do pretty awful things.

I think it's naive to say that there's no way you would do such a thing. You could say that you don't think you would, or would like to think you wouldn't, but none of us can be sure unless we're in that situation ourselves.

I'm 50 years old so hardly naïve, been around a while now and can tell you there is no way I would kill my dog and eat it. Why is that so hard for people to understand? I COULD say I don't think I would but why would I when I KNOW I wouldn't

Do you think this man would have ever thought he would kill and eat his dog in such circumstances?

Unless you have been in that situation you don't know what you would do. People do crazy things when impending death is looming - it's called survival instinct.

I'm sure many people wouldn't, and I'd like to think that I wouldn't either, but I just don't know so I won't judge this man for doing something he thought he needed to do to survive.

Edited November 5, 2013 by melzawelza

[Redsonic]

Where did the "three days" bit come from? I can only find reference to him eating the dog "a few days" after losing his stuff to the bear.

[raz]

I'd like to know where '3 days' came from as well. Evenso, 3 days in deep rugged wilderness without food is, as already stated, nothing like spending several days lazing around at home not feeling like eating. It's the equivalent of running a marathon every day without food, and in some parts of that wilderness, without water, but I dunno, maybe maeby knows more than the Canadian survival experts who have been commenting to journalists.

The guy is still in hospital in critical condition! It certainly was no walk in the park.

[Aidan3]

I can't imagine any of my dogs not bringing down something we could eat.

[raineth]

If he thought/knew he was starving maybe he also thought that there was no way he could also feed his dog. Perhaps he thought that it might also be kinder to the dog to kill it before it was suffering too much.

I guess I'm in the camp that says I don't know what I'd do faced with a situation like that. Obviously it wouldn't be my first option, and it's horrific to even consider. But I have never been anywhere close to a situation like that, so I don't feel like I can say with 100% certainty what I would or wouldn't do.

[espinay2]

Raises so many questions. They didn't start looking for him until he was due back. So he planned to be out there for three months..with his dog. Three months supply of food for yourself and a dog is not small and I truly doubt he had that much food with him so did he plan to hunt? And as mentioned, where was his knife as surely the Bear couldn't have destroyed that even if it did destroy his camp and eat what food he had (even a destroyed camp will give you things to use. Tent guy ropes, tent pegs, pieces of tent material if the tent was destroyed to act as a tarp, fish hooks, knives etc - bears dont eat everything...). So if he planned to be out there three months, which likely would have invovled some form of hunting/gathering his own food for himself and his dog, why the need to eat the dog so early on in the piece?? Too many questions......

.....and yes, people going into these types of situations so unprepared really does make me angry. And not just because of the dog, though in many respects that simply highlights to me just how unprepared he actually was (particularly considering he killed his protector and potential hunting partner).

Edited November 6, 2013 by espinay2

[trinabean]

.....and yes, people going into these types of situations so unprepared really does make me angry. And not just because of the dog, though in many respects that simply highlights to me just how unprepared he actually was (particularly considering he killed his protector and potential hunting partner).

Yes, I think that's what bothers me about this story too.

No one forced this guy to go adventuring in the wilderness. In fact the locals and the Cree man who lived at the mouth of the river actually warned him against it. Still, of his own volition, the man went ahead anyway, chose not to take a satelite phone, and got himself and his dog into difficulty.

I have sympathy for the civilians in Syria who, through no fault of their own, are facing starvation because of a brutal civil war.

This guy went trekking for fun. It was a disaster of his own making. His dog paid the price.

That irks me.

[Dame Aussie]

.....and yes, people going into these types of situations so unprepared really does make me angry. And not just because of the dog, though in many respects that simply highlights to me just how unprepared he actually was (particularly considering he killed his protector and potential hunting partner).

Yes, I think that's what bothers me about this story too.

No one forced this guy to go adventuring in the wilderness. In fact the locals and the Cree man who lived at the mouth of the river actually warned him against it. Still, of his own volition, the man went ahead anyway, chose not to take a satelite phone, and got himself and his dog into difficulty.

I have sympathy for the civilians in Syria who, through no fault of their own, are facing starvation because of a brutal civil war.

This guy went trekking for fun. It was a disaster of his own making. His dog paid the price.

That irks me.

My thoughts exactly.

[raz]

This guy went trekking for fun. It was a disaster of his own making. His dog paid the price.

That irks me.

OK. Memo to self. Never ever do anything for fun incase of a disaster.

You do realise that people experience disaster every day of the year just 'having fun' right? This guy was an experienced hiker who frequently spent weeks alone in the wilderness. Ofcourse no one forced him to go out there. People do stuff like this all the time. What should we all do - lock ourselves in our houses just incase we become victims of something catastrophic? Just watch out for that meteor that might land on your house.

What irks you - that he had to resort to eating his dog to stay alive or that he's still alive but in critical condition?

[Animal House]

We shouldn't be judging him, we don't know the circumstances at all, only what was reported, and that's not the whole story.

I think one of those satellite phones (or the equivalent, that sends out a distress signal) should be mandatory for people going bush.

[Guest Maeby Fünke]

I don't believe for a second that this guy was an experienced hiker, just because an online news story says so.

I think the readers' comments at the bottom of this article are really interesting...

http://gawker.com/dog-saves-camper-from-bear-attack-camper-eats-dog-to-s-1457339228

Some of the readers seem to be experienced hikers themselves. I agree with this guy's take on it...

http://sjfwhite.kinja.com/

I reckon the hiker lost the plot, like he had a mid-life crisis and went AWOL in the bush. I'm looking forward to hearing him say more about it because I'd be willing to put money on that's what happened.

Edited November 6, 2013 by Maeby Fünke

[espinay2]

This guy went trekking for fun. It was a disaster of his own making. His dog paid the price.

That irks me.

OK. Memo to self. Never ever do anything for fun incase of a disaster.

There is doing things for fun, and then there is doing things for fun in a prepared and responsible way. A bit like bushwalkers in the Blue Mountains and elsewhere. You hear about them every year, going in unprepared, getting lost, getting killed or injured. Sure you can get lost or injured etc even when you are prepared. But if you are prepared you have a way better chance of survival/being found quickly. And you have less chance of putting other people at risk too. An experienced bushwalker/hiker knows these things and goes in prepared, even on a day hike. Boy Scout motto: "Be Prepared".

Edited November 6, 2013 by espinay2

[raz]

He's an experienced wilderness guy according to the Canadian survival experts who were questioned. Who do you want to believe, survival experts or armchair experts leaving comments after an opinion piece? Read the Canadian editorials on it.

I give up. As others in here have said, talk about harsh and judgmental. what is interesting was the guy couldnt even talk, eat or drink when he was finally picked up so who is this 'anonymous' person who claimed he killed his dog with a rock? Think I'll wait for more Canadian news stories on this.

[Guest Maeby Fünke]

You know what, I'm going to call up my dad tonight and ask him what he thinks. He's an experienced hard-core hiker. He goes to places like Mt Kosciuszko National Park and camps overnight.

[Little Gifts]

This guy went trekking for fun. It was a disaster of his own making. His dog paid the price.

That irks me.

OK. Memo to self. Never ever do anything for fun incase of a disaster.

You do realise that people experience disaster every day of the year just 'having fun' right? This guy was an experienced hiker who frequently spent weeks alone in the wilderness. Ofcourse no one forced him to go out there. People do stuff like this all the time. What should we all do - lock ourselves in our houses just incase we become victims of something catastrophic? Just watch out for that meteor that might land on your house.

What irks you - that he had to resort to eating his dog to stay alive or that he's still alive but in critical condition?

The guy's planning irks me Raz. He wasn't prepared. He cost his dog it's life. He put his own life at risk. He put the lives of his rescuers at risk. I assume he also caused his family a lot of stress. And after the bear attack his behaviour also lacked any knowledge. I know some of this is speculation but he ate his dog after only a few days but was still lost out there for many more weeks after that so obviously he found something else to eat. Was he nude when the camp was trashed? Did the bear eat 3 months of food AND all his tools and weapons in the one go? Or were they in his canoe and it got sunk to the bottom of a deep river? If he had a small pocket knife in his pocket when his camp was trashed he could've made traps and spears. Could he use the sun/stars as a compass? Could he light a fire without matches or a flint? He could've succumbed to the cold as much as hunger. If he was near water surely there was something he could've trapped and eaten? If not why couldn't he walk to a better trapping spot? I'm assuming he boated it in, which is why he couldn't walk out, but what about keeping a signal fire going? Was he still trying to fulfil his dream of staying there the whole three months despite what had happened? It is just not making sense to me really if he was that experienced. And I hate to say it but he could've also sharpened some of his dogs uncooked bones to create a spear tip/knife. Maybe he did and that is just not pleasant enough to talk about in the media?

I am happy he survived his ordeal, I'm sure he will have his own demons to deal with. I just hope he never tries to do this again because he either isn't made for it or he is jinxed.