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Posted by paul (63.153.10.65) on 10:41:37 06/28/21
Now that Guv'mint has honed its skill in destroying swallow nests they move on to bigger game:
One of Felicia's (e.g., Grizzly Bear 863) cubs was killed in 2019 by an aggressive male grizzly. After that, she stayed near the highway and the large clearings near Togwotee Pass (like many female grizzlies with small cubs who feel that being near humans will discourage male bears from coming around). Because she has become habituated to the roadside with new cubs, she attracted a lot of viewers that just happened to be passing by, who stopped on the highway to watch and photograph her. Because of all the attention and additional car traffic she attracted, the Wyoming Fish and Wildlife department management decided she was attracting too much attention and they didn't want to deal with the additional headaches of traffic management and crowd control, and therefore she was hazed aggressively to try to force her to retreat into the back country away from people and cars. Many believe the hazing was what caused her to be separated from her lone surviving cub Pepper for several weeks in June 2019.
Why can't other options be considered for a bear that is not causing any trouble other than attracting wildlife watchers and photographers, before hazing aggressively? What about installing traffic warning signs such as "frequent bear crossings" and reducing the speed limit like other areas with heavy wildlife crossing? What about use of volunteers to manage the people and control the traffic if the Wyoming Highway Patrol, and Wyoming Game & Fish Department don't have enough budget or staff to work the area? Volunteers are often used in Yellowstone for traffic and crowd control in areas where bears appear daily.
For those that would like a little more backstory on Felicia you can go here:
https://www.grizzlytimes.org/single-pos ... y-bear-mom
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