Happy photographers, traffic jams, a bit of danger, and an opportunity for a screw-up-
Mead Gruver of the Associated Press has a new story on these famous roadside bears.
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Previously, Friends of bears smile as 399′s daughter shows up with two cubs
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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I would gladly give up any chance of ever seeing these animals again if I knew they would be safe from the idiots trying to torment them. My greatest fear is that one of these moms should be hit by one of the idiot motorists out there.
It may be time for Yellowstone Park to take a close look at not allowing private cars, like Denali Park in Alaska. Close proximity to bears is not dangerous if the humans are trained like people who visit McNeil River every summer. Unfortunately, when you get the crowds that Yellowstone gets to keep the park wild you will need to put the people in cages (buses).
Yellowstone needs a permit system. The worst is those situations where numerous cars line either side of the road effectively obscurring anything that plans to run across.
Unfortunately, photogs seem to be the most aggressive (I’ve done some stpid things as well when I see a grizzly and want the photo). But I’ve also seen tour operators do things they shouldn’t have.
I think it’s time we leave this widllife alone, or at least give it some space. Like almost all problems, the solution is less people at any given time.
Most of the traffic in the park comes from folks who live nearby.