How much area do grizzlies need?

  I, for one, was less than impressed with Bill Buley’s article on grizzlies, August 27, 2009, Herald.

 It reminded me of something out of the Ice Age movie my grand daughter likes to watch so much. Wakkinen states if we have 100 bears in our recovery zone, that we can’t count, it does no good.

 Today we have aircraft, GPS tracking and night vision, which our state provides with tax dollars. Then Mr. Wakkinen goes on to say that a decade or more, before he was even born, 50,000 Grizzlies roamed the western United States.

So my question is, who counted those bears? Even better yet, how?  

And as for the fact that grizzlies aren’t aggressive, tell that to the Seattle-based grizzly maze man and his girlfriend. Oh yeah, I forgot, you can’t. 

Anyway, it’s a good fiction piece, but to try and pass it off as fact, wow… I’m not biting. The only thing I’m worried about, Bill, is how much more recovery area does Wayne need for his bears? Our population isn’t getting any smaller. 

Also how many of our bears just go to Canada without a passport? And my number one question is every species that is so endangered in the U.S., grizzlies, linx, bull trout, wolves and caribou.

I can drive 30 miles north and hunt, fish, trap and harvest legally in Canada. So Bill, Wayne, let’s get real.  

Also, just a quote from Steven Herrero, A Professor of Biology and Environmental Science at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada, Worlds leading authority on bear behavior and attacks. The challenge of continued coexistence, however, does require that we accept the chance of injury and even death.

Bill Florea

Bonners Ferry