There is an emerging controversy in Oregon. Hundreds of bears are killed each year for the timber industry because some bears damage trees.
A man stumbled upon what they had been hiding. Man stumbles upon bears killed during tree damage season. KGW.com
. . . and the followup
Oregon to bury remains of bears killed for damaging trees. AP. It looks like the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has a stupid public relations person. The department said they will see that the bears are buried, but the department expresses concern for the poor coyotes and buzzards who won’t have the bear carrion to feed on. . . gag me.
More from Goat, blog of the High Country News. Kill a bear, save a … pine tree??
The right thing to do is not to give the timber industry a free ride on this. They should develop methods of deterring the tree damage. Because it appears this bear behavior is learned, they should hire researchers to develop methods of non-lethally stopping this behavior.
It is so typical of livestock and timber to just shoot whatever gets in the way of their corporate profits.
Update 6/21. There is an article about the killing of bears to appease the timber industry at the Daily Kos. “Green” Oregon’s Timber Industry Slaughters Bears Cubs. By Nulwee
Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He was a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and was also its President for several years. For a long time he produced Ralph Maughan's Wolf Report. He was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He and Jackie Johnson Maughan wrote three editions of "Hiking Idaho." He also wrote "Beyond the Tetons" and "Backpacking Wyoming's Teton and Washakie Wilderness." He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News.
And some people look askance at the Buffalo Field Campaign for pointing out the same thing–ag kills whatever gets in its way– with the abuse of the buffalo in and out of Yellowstone National Park.
I find this pretty appalling, that we legally allow private timber holders to trap and hunt out of season black bears regardless of age and sex to protect a commodity that we already subsidise out the wahoo.