Teresa Yuan, KING 5
NORTH BEND, Wash ā The debate to reintroduce grizzly bears to the North Cascades has drawn support and criticism.
The National Park Service and Fish and Wildlife Service drafted a plan to bring the endangered species back to the North Cascades almost 30 years ago as the their numbers were dwindling.
This process has been slow until public meetings held by the federal government around Western Washington in March. In total, nearly 500 people showed up.
The government received more than 3,000 comments throughout the process, with grizzly bears being called “man-eating monsters” to “mystical creatures.”
Under the federal government’s plan, the protected grizzly bear would be returned to federal lands running from the Canadian border to Wenatchee, and extending west to Darrington and North Bend.
Biologists believe there used to be as many as 100,000 grizzlies on the West Coast. Now, there may be only two dozen left in Washington.
In one of the 3,000 comments, a supporter wrote: “Grizzly bears are an icon that represent healthy wilderness eco-systems in the Pacific Northwest. To sustain an integral part of what makes our country unique and wonderful we must sustain umbrella species such as the grizzly bear.”
On the other side, someone posted: “As much as I love wildlife, I am not supportive of re-introduction of grizzlies to Washington state. I also find that hiking in Glacier and Yellowstone to be extremely scary, and I want a wild place to go where I don’t have worry about grizzlies.”
The federal government is expected to make a final recommendation in late 2017 about whether or not to reintroduce the grizzly bears back to the North Cascades.
Photo Copyright Jim Robertson
Exposing the Big Game 
Walking in Glacier and Yellowstone parks “extremely scary”? Then stay the hell out of the parks. Go to the mall. You might get shot, but you’ll be safe from those monster bears.
Right.
Could not have said it better.
Well, the bears where there FIRST!!! And they deserve to have their place back… š W the Bears Ā¦Ā¦ long life to the Bears
On the other side, someone posted: “As much as I love wildlife, I am not supportive of re-introduction of grizzlies to Washington state. I also find that hiking in Glacier and Yellowstone to be extremely scary, and I want a wild place to go where I don’t have worry about grizzlies.”
Ahimsa, you said it well! Actually I don’t think humans should be everywhere disturbing wild animals. This fool does not understand that grizzly presence makes it wild, along with other wild animals. The problem is, humans are domesticating everything. I would rather know these animals are there, even never being there.
In a perfect world, I would love to see all species come back to where they once thrived.
Call me cynical but I see reintroduction as nothing more than a preamble to grizzly bear hunting and poaching – much like the wolves many of us are fighting to save.
I’m afraid you are right, Gail. This smells just like more “sustainable management” stuff. Get a population up just enough to kill them “legitimately.” Of course, the poor grizzly in Alaska is hunted constantly, and now, with these shameful Alaskan “reality” shows, these beautiful animals are painted as blood thirsty killers, just looking for a human to eat. Now, grazing livestock is on the rise in Alaska, as temps warm and permafrost declines. The livestock grazing up there will spell doom for any of the large (and not so large) native animals.
http://www.foranimals.org
Exactly what I was thinking. Will give the trophy hunters more to shoot at.
Oh boy. A national park will cease to be ‘wild’ without any wildlife! And Yellowstone is hardly scary. Animals may be threatened with extinction, but stupid will reproduce on and on, won’t it? š¦
Yes, and few are really talking about human overpopulation. Some countries, like Japan, are worried because Japanese are not “having enough children.” How insane! Since everything humans do is based upon “growth” it is almost criminal to attack human population growth, it seems.
Reblogged this on Coalition for American Wildbirds.