Recalling some famous Wyoming grizzly bears-
Bears by the Numbers. By Brodie Farquhar. Wyofile. com
Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University with specialties in natural resource politics, public opinion, interest groups, political parties, voting and elections. Aside from academic publications, he is author or co-author of three hiking/backpacking guides, and he is past President of the Western Watersheds Project and the creator of The Wildlife News.
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This is kinda cool…
http://www.adn.com/photos/wildlife/bears/story/454024.html
John W.,
that is really cool. I wish more wildlife studies could include that as it would make it more popular with the public. Although, the negative is that in unprotected areas people can use the info in a bad way (ie, killing them) since they know where they are.
Thanks for the link.
Thanks, John, that is a cool site. It would be great if they gave a little more information about the bears. When I looked at it, I naturally got curious about the patterns of the different bears. For example, looks like 208 does a lot of roaming around; is it a male looking for a mate? Maybe a young bear, looking for a territory? What about the one with realitively few hits, 204 I think? The number would indicate it was one of the earlier ones collared, so does the number of hits mean it had died or lost it’s collar? Inquiring minds want to know.
Looking at the bear locations, it’s hard to pick a winner for this year’s Alaska Darwin Awards. Notice that bears #204, 207, 208, and 211 all hung out a lot a Far North Bicentennial Park/Campbell Creek. Lots of spawning salmon in that stream during the summer. So in mid-June, a couple of trail runners have a dust-off with a grizzly in Bicentennial Park, but escape uninjured. That’s nothing. At the end of June, a teen girl on a mountain bike gets terribly injured. That’s what happens when you’re riding around at night during a 24 hour race. Two weeks later another runner has a close call with a grizzly. About two weeks after that a different runner gets nailed by a bear.
Is there a way to prevent all these bear attacks? Hunting. Thin out the bears. Led by Anchorage Daily News outdoor editor, an avid trail runner and mountain biker, lots of people are agitating to kill a bunch of bears.
bear #212 is on display in a museum in Meeteetse, Wyoming near where he was put down…he’s very impressive with extremely long claws compared to the average grizzly.