BigHornRam
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BHR was right!
Guest column: Forest Service shouldn't allow bear baiting - Thursday, Sept. 27, 2007
By JIM MILLER
On Sept. 3, a grizzly bear was shot and killed in the Selway-Bitterroot ecosystem, in Idaho three miles from the Montana border, as reported in the Missoulian. The out-of-state hunter was hunting black bear over bait on an outfitted hunt. The Idaho Fish and Game news release described the bear as a 6- to 10-year-old male, 450 pounds and in good physical condition, except for the fact of its untimely death.
The remote area where the bear was killed is described as ideal grizzly bear habitat, but inexplicably also as an area where grizzlies were not expected to be found, even though the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks has received numerous reports of grizzly sightings in this ecosystem in recent years.
Unfortunately, the tragic significance of this event has not been fully presented.
Recently, the Bitterroot National Forest received a request from an outfitter service to allow fall bear baiting on the West Fork Ranger District within the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, and a proposal is being considered. Friends of the Bitterroot does not believe that the Forest Service should be associated with or condone the practice of bear baiting, as it offends every principle of fair chase hunting and sportsmanship, and tarnishes the sport of hunting as well as the agency itself.
It also habituates bears to human food and in doing so promotes a safety risk for people that venture into bear habitat, as well as families living in the wildland-urban interface. It is the goal of the Montana FWP to allow for natural re-colonization of the grizzly bear into the very area for which bear baiting is being proposed.
This month's grizzly killing has been attributed to a case of mistaken identity because the bear had been purportedly mistaken for a black bear. We have no confidence that most hunters, and certainly not hunters that are using guide services, are able to distinguish between a black bear and grizzly bear. This is clearly demonstrated by this recent incident.
This event is a tragic setback to the recovery of grizzly bears in the greater Selway-Bitterroot and Frank Church-River of No Return ecosystem and could have been avoided had the Forest Service and Idaho Fish and Game exercised better judgment regarding their policies on bear hunting. This ecosystem is recognized as historical grizzly bear habitat and has been identified as vital to the long-term survival of the grizzly bear in the contiguous states because of its importance as a core habitat linked by corridors between now isolated populations.
Freaks of the Bitterroot has conducted a grizzly search program in this area for the past 10 years: Flying over the wilderness in the spring, locating bear tracks from the air, hiking in, finding the dens, collecting hair samples and doing DNA analysis. During one of these searches, our conservation director came upon a chillingly gruesome bear bait pile that had been set up by a hunter. The pile was composed of a skinned black bear cub, which at first glance appeared human to him, along with human food scattered throughout. There are times when some men's barbaric behavior toward living beings is deeply shocking. Luring bears with a bait pile and killing them as if they were part of some macabre real-life shooting gallery, without shame, only demonstrates a dangerously hardened heart and a diminished morality that should not be sanctioned.
This most recent killing of a grizzly bear, another killing in the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness and the Rock Creek sighting of a grizzly a few years ago, as well as other reliable but unverified sightings over the last several years clearly document that grizzlies must be expected in these areas. The presence of these bears indicates that the Frank Church-River of No Return and Selway-Bitterroot ecosystem is fulfilling the desired function of migration corridor as core grizzly habitat connected to established populations of grizzly bears.
This facilitates the critical genetic diversity necessary to ensure the long term survival of the grizzly in its former range. The loss of any individual is a tragedy in itself, but also represents the permanent removal of indispensable genetic material that can never be recovered. This hereditary transmission is crucial to the variety of adaptations which may be required for the grizzly to remain in existence in a changing environment.
The grizzly is a threatened animal listed on the Endangered Species List in our area, and there is a goal and a plan in place for its recovery in its historic habitat. The Forest Service and the state Fish and Game departments of Idaho and Montana should be proposing actions which encourage the survival of grizzly bears rather than ones that place the few grizzly bears that are trying to survive here at greater risk.
The members of Freaks of the Bitterroot wish to express to the Forest Service in the strongest words that we object to this particular bear baiting proposal and to also call upon them and other involved agencies to ensure that the practice of bear baiting in general shall be banned on all federal and state lands. It is an utterly atrocious practice that sullies all associated with it, endangers human life, is abhorrent to almost everyone, and further endangers the survival of already threatened grizzly bears.
Jim Miller is president of Freaks of the Bitterroot.
Guest column: Forest Service shouldn't allow bear baiting - Thursday, Sept. 27, 2007
By JIM MILLER
On Sept. 3, a grizzly bear was shot and killed in the Selway-Bitterroot ecosystem, in Idaho three miles from the Montana border, as reported in the Missoulian. The out-of-state hunter was hunting black bear over bait on an outfitted hunt. The Idaho Fish and Game news release described the bear as a 6- to 10-year-old male, 450 pounds and in good physical condition, except for the fact of its untimely death.
The remote area where the bear was killed is described as ideal grizzly bear habitat, but inexplicably also as an area where grizzlies were not expected to be found, even though the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks has received numerous reports of grizzly sightings in this ecosystem in recent years.
Unfortunately, the tragic significance of this event has not been fully presented.
Recently, the Bitterroot National Forest received a request from an outfitter service to allow fall bear baiting on the West Fork Ranger District within the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, and a proposal is being considered. Friends of the Bitterroot does not believe that the Forest Service should be associated with or condone the practice of bear baiting, as it offends every principle of fair chase hunting and sportsmanship, and tarnishes the sport of hunting as well as the agency itself.
It also habituates bears to human food and in doing so promotes a safety risk for people that venture into bear habitat, as well as families living in the wildland-urban interface. It is the goal of the Montana FWP to allow for natural re-colonization of the grizzly bear into the very area for which bear baiting is being proposed.
This month's grizzly killing has been attributed to a case of mistaken identity because the bear had been purportedly mistaken for a black bear. We have no confidence that most hunters, and certainly not hunters that are using guide services, are able to distinguish between a black bear and grizzly bear. This is clearly demonstrated by this recent incident.
This event is a tragic setback to the recovery of grizzly bears in the greater Selway-Bitterroot and Frank Church-River of No Return ecosystem and could have been avoided had the Forest Service and Idaho Fish and Game exercised better judgment regarding their policies on bear hunting. This ecosystem is recognized as historical grizzly bear habitat and has been identified as vital to the long-term survival of the grizzly bear in the contiguous states because of its importance as a core habitat linked by corridors between now isolated populations.
Freaks of the Bitterroot has conducted a grizzly search program in this area for the past 10 years: Flying over the wilderness in the spring, locating bear tracks from the air, hiking in, finding the dens, collecting hair samples and doing DNA analysis. During one of these searches, our conservation director came upon a chillingly gruesome bear bait pile that had been set up by a hunter. The pile was composed of a skinned black bear cub, which at first glance appeared human to him, along with human food scattered throughout. There are times when some men's barbaric behavior toward living beings is deeply shocking. Luring bears with a bait pile and killing them as if they were part of some macabre real-life shooting gallery, without shame, only demonstrates a dangerously hardened heart and a diminished morality that should not be sanctioned.
This most recent killing of a grizzly bear, another killing in the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness and the Rock Creek sighting of a grizzly a few years ago, as well as other reliable but unverified sightings over the last several years clearly document that grizzlies must be expected in these areas. The presence of these bears indicates that the Frank Church-River of No Return and Selway-Bitterroot ecosystem is fulfilling the desired function of migration corridor as core grizzly habitat connected to established populations of grizzly bears.
This facilitates the critical genetic diversity necessary to ensure the long term survival of the grizzly in its former range. The loss of any individual is a tragedy in itself, but also represents the permanent removal of indispensable genetic material that can never be recovered. This hereditary transmission is crucial to the variety of adaptations which may be required for the grizzly to remain in existence in a changing environment.
The grizzly is a threatened animal listed on the Endangered Species List in our area, and there is a goal and a plan in place for its recovery in its historic habitat. The Forest Service and the state Fish and Game departments of Idaho and Montana should be proposing actions which encourage the survival of grizzly bears rather than ones that place the few grizzly bears that are trying to survive here at greater risk.
The members of Freaks of the Bitterroot wish to express to the Forest Service in the strongest words that we object to this particular bear baiting proposal and to also call upon them and other involved agencies to ensure that the practice of bear baiting in general shall be banned on all federal and state lands. It is an utterly atrocious practice that sullies all associated with it, endangers human life, is abhorrent to almost everyone, and further endangers the survival of already threatened grizzly bears.
Jim Miller is president of Freaks of the Bitterroot.
