They’re individuals

Dear Editor:

The most remarkable thing about Judge Dana Christensen’s Aug. 30 order to temporarily block the first grizzly bear hunts in the Greater Yellowstone area in four decades was that he acknowledged “the threat of death to individual bears.” Wildlife issues are notorious for bringing out the “population management” banter in all but the most-avid animal advocates. Perhaps through these noble bears we can finally address a nonhuman issue with something other than depersonalization and disinformation.

Over the hundreds of hours I’ve spent photographing grizzly bears, I never thought of them as anything less than individuals with their own thoughts, concerns and will to live. Anyone objectifying them as trophies is using twisted thinking and doesn’t deserve a say in their future.

No one can honestly claim they have an unmitigable hankering for grizzly bear meat these days. As world-renowned primatologist Jane Goodall recently put it, if a grizzly bear like those living near Grand Teton National Park is shot “so…