Free Republic

The Biden administration's plan to relocate grizzly bear populations to rural parts of Washington State will have a devastating impact on agriculture and livestock in the region while posing a significant danger to local communities, a fifth generation cattle producer warned. Residents of Washington State are doubling down on their concerns surrounding the federal government's plan to translocate grizzly bears, an apex predator, to the federally-managed North Cascades National Park, after the National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared the strategy their preferred plan for grizzly bear management in the region. The North Cascades National Park borders...

On December 18, 2017, the Canadian Province of British Columbia banned hunting of grizzly bears, except by indigenous tribes. It appears to be a natural experiment that will help determine the effects of grizzly bear hunting practices. Tribes known as “First Nations” are allowed to kill bears. The exact effect of the ban is not clear or precise. Taltan hunters still hunt the bears, but they are not killing enough of them. But when the B.C. government banned the grizzly bear trophy hunt in 2017, the system was thrown out of whack. While the Tahltan could still hunt for food,...

The grizzly bear population in the lower 48 states of the United States is the deadliest population of bears in the world. From 1975 to 2023, a population of under 2,000 grizzly bears has killed more people than all the grizzly/brown bears in Alaska.The current population of grizzly bears in the lower 48 states has grown to about 2,000 bears from the low of about 700 to 800 bears estimated in 1975. If the population has grown at a constant rate over the last 48 years, the rate of growth would be about 2%, and the average population over the...

Nature Ping. Vicious bear fight. Not for the squeamish. Recorded 3 June 2023 Filmed from a boat... We were watching a tranquil scene of 2 bears shagging on the beach…we thought how lovely…something you don’t see very often. Then we noticed another bear making its way towards them…he was on a mission…and he went in for the attack while our 2 lovers were still joined. She made a hasty departure. The guide we were with said the aggressor had killed and eaten a cub the day before…he seemed to have the blood lust…it was the longest 20 minutes of my...

As odd as it might seem, a train conductor confirmed to Cowboy State Daily that grizzly bears and other wild animals frequently get intoxicated on fermented grain spilled from rail cars, and too many of them end up getting killed as a result. Paul Summers told Cowboy State Daily he’s seen it with his own eyes. “Especially in the summertime, it’s common to see bears, including grizzlies, drunk on grain. You will see them wobbling,” he said. “You will see them staggering.” In fact, he said the bears’ own stubbornness often works against them, as they don’t want to move...

Two people and their dog were found dead at Banff National Park on Saturday after a grizzly bear attack. A GPS device alerted Parks Canada on Friday night, indicating a bear attack was happening within the Red Deer River Valley region west of Ya Ha Tinda Ranch in Canada’s Banff National Park... Due to poor weather conditions, an emergency team reportedly could not fly to the location via helicopter, so they traveled by ground during the night. When the team arrived at the scene, they reportedly found two individuals who were deceased and ... The victim’s identities have not been...

The Biden administration unveiled a proposal to reintroduce grizzly bear populations in the federally-managed North Cascades National Park in northern Washington. ... As part of the announcement, the public is invited to comment through mid-November. ... “The National Parks Service and Fish and Wildlife Service should end this process immediately by rescinding the draft EIS and proposed 10(j) rule. The introduction of grizzlies into the North Cascades would be devastating for our North Central Washington communities,” said Congressional Western Caucus Chairman Dan Newhouse, R-Wash. “Time and again, our communities have spoken to express staunch opposition to the introduction of these...

A Navy veteran and businessman is in critical but stable condition following a bear attack Friday in Montana in which the bear tore off the man’s lower jaw, his family said Sunday. Rudy Noorlander, 61, was helping a hunting party find a deer when the attack occurred, his daughter KateLynn Davis said in a statement. The hunting party had rented all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) from Noorlander’s snowmobiling and ATV rental business, Alpine Adventures, in Big Sky, for the hunt. Noorlander encountered a bear and instinctively drew his firearm to scare it away “but before he could even have time to react,...

Wyoming’s most famous wild critters, Grizzly 399 and her "absolutely gigantic" cub Spirit, which has had a growth spurt, appeared this week for the first time in about a month, gorging on abundant forage in Teton National Park. Wyoming’s beloved Grizzly 399, her cub of the year, Spirit enjoyed bountiful forage in Teton National Park when they recently made their first public appearance in about a month. Wyoming’s beloved Grizzly 399, her cub of the year, Spirit enjoyed bountiful forage in Teton National Park when they recently made their first public appearance in about a month. (Courtesy Roam Wild Photo...

A woman was found dead after an apparent encounter with a grizzly bear near Yellowstone National Park in Montana on Saturday. The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) said investigators confirmed grizzly bear tracks at the scene, adding the investigation is ongoing. The woman was discovered on the Buttermilk Trail, an area about eight miles west of West Yellowstone. The Custer Gallatin National Forest, which borders Yellowstone in southeastern Montana, issued an emergency closure of the area “for human safety.”

U.S.A. – In Italy, Andrea Papi, a young man running for exercise, was killed by an aggressive European brown bear. European brown bears are essentially the same species as American grizzly/brown bears. From Nature World News: Fear and rage spread throughout the area after Andrea Papi was fatally attacked by the aggressive bear while jogging above the town of Caldes in the Brenta Dolomites on the slopes of Mt. Peller. Papi is the first Italian reported to have died in the last few years at the hands of a bear. In Italy, bears are a protected species, and since they...

In Allen’s own words starting in the summer of 1976:In the summer of 1976, I was working alone on the grizzly bear research and was on a trip in the Scapegoat Wilderness south of the Benchmark Road end on USFS land. I was riding my saddle horse and leading two pack horses with my equipment and camping supplies. I rode into a small grassy opening suitable for horse feed north of Half Moon Peak at about dusk. I unloaded the two pack horses and turned them loose to graze with hobbles and was starting to unsaddle my riding horse. A...

USA – A few years ago, a well-done target featuring an attacking grizzly bear came on the market. It appeared to be an official target of the Alaskan State Parks. Alaska State Parks Bear TargetI liked the look of the target as an image to use with bear attack stories where original images of the scene were unavailable. Many bear targets show cartoonish bears, bears that are not approaching the shooter, or bears that are not focused on the people being trained to shoot at them. This target showed the right mix of realism, focus, and artistic depiction. The image...

The Biden administration took a first step Friday toward ending federal protections for grizzly bears in the northern Rocky Mountains, which would open the door to future hunting in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho.... Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte welcomed the administration’s announcement and said it could lead to the state reclaiming management of a species that’s been under federal protections since 1975. He said the grizzly’s recovery "represents a conservation success." The federal government removed protections for the Yellowstone ecosystem’s grizzlies in 2017. Wyoming and Idaho were set to allow grizzlies to be hunted when a judge restored those protections in...

Ahighly contagious strain of bird flu has been detected in three grizzly bears in Montana, the first time the disease has been found in grizzlies. The three bears tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in fall 2022, and were found to be suffering from neurological issues, including disorientation and partial blindness, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) said in a January 17 statement... ...Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data shows that as of January 11, over 57 million poultry across the U.S. were infected by HPAI, most of which have died or been culled, while nearly...

Four college wrestlers say they are grateful to be alive — and for each other — after going toe-to-toe with a grizzly bear in Wyoming over the weekend. Brayden Lowry, Kendell Cummings, August Harrison and Orrin Jackson, all students and wrestling teammates at Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming, said they were searching for fallen antlers in Shoshone National Forest on Saturday when suddenly Lowry and Cummings came across a grizzly bear. The animal attacked, tackling Lowry first. “The bear came running out of the trees. I didn’t even see it until it was right in front of me, but I...

Scene five hours after Leah Lokan was Killed by Grizzly Bear in Ovando, MTIn the early morning hours of July 6, 2021, in the village of Ovando, Montana, mere feet from several buildings, Leah Lokan was attacked by a 417 pound grizzly bear. She valiantly used bear spray in an attempt to stop the attack. The bear spray failed. Ms Lokan was a small but strong woman. She was killed in the unprovoked predatory attack. Leah Lokan as remembered by a friend.Leah Lokan facebook image link While not the first bear spray fatality in 2021, the attack and defensive failure...

When incidents of defense against bears occur in the United States, a common position of bear apologists is to claim “bears were here first”, as if, somehow, a bear has moral authority over humans. A group that promotes the expansion of grizzly bear populations makes this claim, in a more sophisticated way. From conservationnw.org:Grizzly bears have coexisted with people in the North Cascades Ecosystem from when the first people arrived in North America. The most dangerous bear, the grizzly bear, was not in the lower 48 states before humans were. Humans were here first.The grizzly bear is a relative newcomer...

A Massachusetts native living in Montana was killed last week in a suspected encounter with a grizzly bear north of Yellowstone National Park, officials said. The victim was identified as Craig Clouatre, 40, of Livingston, Mont., authorities there said Friday. Clouatre had grown up in West Brookfield, according to a Facebook page set up in his name. SNIP Search teams on the ground and in helicopters had been looking for Clouatre after he went hiking on Wednesday morning with a friend, possibly to hunt for antlers, and was reported overdue that day, according to the Park County sheriff. The search...

Craig Clouatre, 40, of Livingston, was found dead on Thursday after he had gone out hiking with a friend the day before – possibly to hunt for antlers — and never showed up at a designated meeting spot. Officials provided no details on where he was found or why they believe a grizzly bear was responsible for his death. The search began Wednesday night with teams on the ground and in helicopters concentrating their efforts on the Six Mile Creek area of the Absaroka Mountains, north of Yellowstone National Park.