Scarcity of wild food and ample food in town, led 3 bears into Jackson on Aug. 28 (at least I guess because the story is written in an unusual tense).
Story in the Jackson Hole News and Guide. By Corey Hatch.
Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He has been a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and also its President. For many years 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.
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Black bears are roaming around in developed areas of the Payette Valley too. Likely because of poor food and the huge fires to the west. It doesn’t help when people leave their garbage out.
An interesting tid-bit in one of the Jackson papers recently suggested that ammonia added to garbage cans on a frequent basis has helped with the bear problem. Worth a try.
Before all the developement occured in the valleys, bears could come out of the higher elevations looking for food during drought years. It was a natural occurence. Who is the real invader? It is up to us to learn to live with wildlife. We need to protect their habitat.
My neighbor wants to kill everything from chipmunks to muskrats to geese to bears. I want him to move back to the city so he won’t feel so threatened.