How do scientists make judgments that require consideration of ‘the best available science’ under conditions of high uncertainty? To gain insight into this question, we surveyed a group of grizzly bear researchers. We found that the majority of experts recommended continued listing of bears, and that experts who were employed by state and federal agencies…
GYE estimated grizzly population down by 43 bears, 6%, since 2015 say gov’t wildlife biologists At the Jackson, Wyoming meeting of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee’s Yellowstone Ecosystem Subcommittee (IGBC/YES), a population figure of 714 grizzlies was announced yesterday. In 2014 the number was 757. The latter is a figure close to the estimate of 750…
I recently wrote about the reinhabitation of grizzly bears in Grand Teton National Park and Jackson Hole. There, two female bears and their families have really caught folk’s attention for about the last decade. The book is about them. Grizzly bear 399 and her daughter 610, both of whom have now had many cubs, and…
Recovery of the Yellowstone grizzly bear has been an intense interest of mine for most of my adult life. Yellowstone Park has been a refuge, inspiration and cause for me since I was a boy in Rexburg, Idaho, and my parents began to take me there. The grizzly bear was put on the threatened species…
Florida just held its first bear hunt in several decades, targeting 300 of the bruins for death. Just three years ago, the black bear was listed as threatened, and the state’s bears had not been hunted since 1994. The proximate reason for the hunt is that bears, according to representatives of the Florida Wildlife Commission,…
We have run a number of stories this year about bears, especially grizzly bears, getting in trouble in Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. Since then the berry crop failed and the whitebark pine nut crop is mostly just fair. The number of known dead grizzlies in the Greater Yellowstone this year is approaching 50 (46 as…
Bears now seeking extra calories to fatten up for hibernation- In case folks have forgotten, though few who read The Wildlife News are in that category, autumn is the time for what might look like gluttonous behavior in bears. In order to survive hibernation, bears needs thousands of what would normally be excess calories to put on…
Grizzly bear and black bear attacks- Last week there were two bear attacks in Idaho. One was in the Island Park area near landmark Sawtelle Peak (10 miles west of Yellowstone Park). The other was near the western Idaho town of McCall. Idaho Fish and Game personnel trapped and then killed a male black bear in…
Dr. Jeremy Bruskotter is an associate professor in the School of Environment and Natural Resources at the Ohio State University where his research interests are centered around the human dimensions” of wildlife conservation and management. Jeremy is passionate about wildlife–at one time or another, he has called himself hunter, angler, and wildlife photographer. Most of all, Jeremy is concerned with bringing the tools and techniques of the social sciences to bear on pressing issues in wildlife management.