JIM'S GEMS - THE BEAR FACTS

BEARS COME FIRST - MAN? IS JUST MORE FOOD
By Jim Foster

What is the problem in the lower 48 states regarding the rapidly growing populations of grizzly bear? Answers seem to be more of the politically correct mentality sweeping the country. Not to mention the aid provided by some parts of the poorly written and badly managed ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT. Animals have now taken a position over people.

In many areas as you drive you will see signs NOT telling you “about” the chance of a bear encounter but how much it will COST you if you happen to get eaten by one and the bear chokes on your liver causing its demise. That’s wildlife management today.

The politically correct reputation and the one most publicized in the mostly uninformed press paints old Ursus arctos horribilis – the grizzly bear - not as a brutish killer, but “…of a keystone species decimated by over hunting and habitat loss, a symbol of America's misunderstanding of how nature works.”

This topic was brought to the forefront a week ago when Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks Commissioner Vic Workman used a firearm to ward off a grizzly attack while he was deer hunting. He was later to say that bullets are far more effective than bear spray in fending off such an attack. That statement caused a storm from within the ranks of the great unwashed.

Described by the press as a tall, rangy man who wears a cowboy hat and a “made-in-Montana” look, is known for his outspokenness. Hunting all his life he holds several trophy records for brown bear and black bear and is not a stranger to the species.

Workman went on to say grizzlies have become so numerous in his state he believes they should be taken off the endangered species list and hunted to make them afraid of people. This really got a rise out of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) bioboys.

As a special note we can remember how truthful the USFWS was after their wolf people trespassed on private property to release wolves and it was the USFWS lynx biologists who were discovered planting and falsifying evidence. Who can believe anything they say? Their (USFWS) should at least be taken with a large grain of salt?

For example; Chris Servheen, a Missoula-based bear biologist with the FWS, was quoted saying that Workman's comments were detrimental to grizzly conservation and human safety in bear country. In truth Servheen is more concerned with his “job” than the safety of people.

As could be expected from a USFWS employee (remember these people like to bend the truth) he called Workman totally irresponsible for his comments. Never mind that many hunters and outdoors people will agree with him 100 percent.
Servheen also stressed how much “supposed” time the FWS spends teaching people how to be safe in and around bears. Printing leaflets and signs, maybe, actually teaching people – very little.

In truth, to many who spend time around wildlife have come to believe the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has become more of an anti-hunting bureaucracy than the wildlife service it was first intended to be. It has learned to use the courts and the poorly contrived endangered species act to their advantage.

Ask any rancher in bear and wolf country and see what they say.