Grizzly Hunt

Once again, the settlers (with their invasive cows) were set on exterminating a native species, the grizzly. Now, current policies want to do the same. Before the settlers arrived there were an estimated 50,000 to 100,000 grizzlies in the lower 48. Currently there are only an estimated 1,100 remaining.

It began in the 16th Century. Conquistadors moved north out of Mexico, to the Southwest and brought their cattle with them. Sometimes cows would escape to the wilderness and feral populations were made. The grizzly liked them because there was an abundance and the cows were easy to catch. So, the cows became the primary food source for the grizzlies in the region. By the 1830's the grizzly habitat was (and still is) becoming pastureland. This meant even more food for the grizzlies.

From the late 1800s to the 1950s, grizzlies were becoming extinct throughout the country. In California, the last grizzly was killed in August 1922. Ironically, yet common in this country, California made the grizzly as the state symbol in 1953. This is just like the Department of the Interior making the buffalo their symbol in 1849, when the buffalo were being exterminated for grassland for invasive cows.

Then, to the benefit of the grizzlies, they were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1975. But, in 2007 the bears were removed from the Endangered Species list.

Now, grizzlies only occupy less than 2% of their natural range which includes the states of: Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Washington, and Wyoming. There are five grizzly bear sub populations in Wyoming, Washington, Idaho and Montana with "500 in the northwest Montana Rockies, about 600 in and around Yellowstone National Park, about 50 in the Selkirk Mountains of northern Idaho and northeastern Washington, and 30 to 40 in the Cabinet-Yaak area of northern Idaho and western Montana. Probably less than a dozen grizzlies survive in the North Cascades. There are about 22,000 grizzlies in Canada and more than 30,000 in Alaska."(quote from FWP)

But, according to FWP the number of grizzlies has far exceeded recovery numbers and need to be (as all other wildlife) "managed". So, a grizzly hunt is proposed. An MOU between Montana, Idaho and Wyoming is designed " to define the process by which the Parties will coordinate annual efforts to develop recommendations for the allocation of discretionary mortality, if any, of grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem for hunting consistent with the Final Grizzly Bear Conservation Strategy for the Greater Yellowstone Area and state management plans. "

The grizzlies, however, are dying in YNP due to hunters, "management removals" and starvation. All three causes are related by one thing, lack of food. What has happened to the food? Pine beetles. Grizzlies need the high fat and protein in pine nuts to survive hibernation. But, the pine beetles are destroying the forests. In the Rocky Mountains 2.5 million acres of woodlands have been killed. With food scarce, the grizzlies go looking for food in areas where they haven't been seen in decades. Here they are killed by hunters or the bear gets livestock and is killed by biologists as "management removal".

First the buffalo, then the wolves, now the grizzly. Who will be on Fish Wildlife and Parks black list next?

To help stop the slaughter of the grizzlies, please contact MT FWP fwpwld@mt.gov