G'Night, Old Friend!

Tons of bear-related material in the Star Tribune today. Well, really just two things, but two bear items in a day ain't bad.

First: A country singer named Troy Gentry is facing charges for shooting and killing a black bear in a pen. He had purchased the "trophy-caliber" bear for $4,650 from a Minnesota wildlife dealer. Gentry killed the bear with a bow and arrow while it was still in its cage, then tagged and registered it with the DNR as if it had been killed in the wild. He even had video edited (I'm not sure how) to make it appear that the bear was killed in the wild.

I'll leave the smartass commentary on this subject to Stephen Colbert. Here's the complete article if you're interested.

A little closer to home, Mark Trail has begun its second consecutive bear-themed storyline. I love today's strip, particularlily the last two panels. My question for you: which of the two should I have as my new profile pic for blogger? The bear looks far sillier in the second panel--she's sitting kind of like Satchel from Get Fuzzy and she's licking her chops. The vague man/bear sexual overtones (the guy's name is a porn star-ish "Buck Jones") are more overt in the last panel. So it's a toss-up.
P.S.: This strip's overuse of exclamation points rivals that of a Mad Magazine satire.
P.P.S: Click the strip for a color version.