LETTER: Grizzly bear facts - not fiction
In January, I submitted an op-ed to the Inter Lake titled “The Grizzly Killing Fields” questioning the haste of the states in dividing up grizzly hunting quotas while the bears were still listed as “threatened.” I questioned the need, effectiveness and wisdom of hunting the state animal because of the following:
* Grizzlies are the slowest reproducing mammal in North America making population explosions impossible.
* “Problem bears” are almost always caused by “problem people,” who habituate and food condition them.
* Hunting doesn’t cause grizzlies to fear/avoid people, it causes them to be dead.
* Yellowstone grizzlies are an iconic species to millions of Americans and killing them will cause a huge public backlash.
In a response in the Feb. 21 Inter Lake (“People cause problem bears… It ain’t necessarily so”), Rick Funk took exception to my impeccable logic in a number of ways.
First, he questioned that grizzlies were the slowest reproducing mammal, saying, “I guess the black bears don’t count…” You’re right Rick, they don’t. Black bears first reproduce at 3-4 years and at 2-year intervals after that. Grizzlies first reproduce at 5-6 years, and at 3-year intervals.
Second, in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem, known grizzly mortalities are 85-90 percent human-caused. The No. 1 cause is “management control” of bears that have been habituated and food-conditioned by people’s bad behavior in providing attractants: Problem people causing problem bears.
Rick suggests that a reading of the Lewis and Clark journals shows that grizzlies “wreaked all kinds of havoc on the Native Americans and the Corps of Discovery … Native Americans would resort to the same rituals when hunting grizzlies as they did going into battle with neighboring tribes.”
There’s nothing in the journals suggesting that grizzlies “wreaked havoc” on the tribes, or that they hunted them out of fear. Rather, the hunts were part of tribal culture and ceremony — a way to show bravery and gain status — and that’s why they held the same rituals as for warring tribes.
As for Lewis and Clark, they were consuming huge quantities of meat every day, leaving a lot of it around camp every night, and enticing grizzlies in to the camp margins looking for a free steak: Problem people creating problem bears. Perhaps most telling is the fact that the Corps lost no one to grizzlies during their two-year trip, while killing several dozen bears themselves.
Third, Rick repeats the old myth that “hunting and only hunting caused the bears to retreat into uninhabited areas.” The reality, known for decades, is that plains bears were more easily seen and wiped out, while mountain grizzlies were able to hang on in small numbers. There was no mass exodus of grizzlies to the mountains — they already lived there. Hunting grizzlies kills grizzlies; it doesn’t teach them fear.
Finally, Rick says that this is his home not a zoo; his grandchildren shouldn’t have to fear playing in their Kalispell backyard; and if tourists stay away because of Yellowstone grizzlies being killed, so be it. Unless I’ve slept through the last 25 years, no one is suggesting Kalispell is a great place for grizzlies, and no one has been attacked or killed there. If he wants his grandkids ro be less fearful — and who doesn’t — he should stop instilling in them the irrational fear of grizzlies that his letter displays.
As for tourists staying home if they don’t like us killing Yellowstone grizzlies, Rick should be careful what he wishes for. Those tourists brought in $3 billion to the Montana economy last year, including $193 million right here around Glacier. Pretty soon you’re talking about real money — and real jobs.
Peck is a resident of Columbia Falls.