Still, we can`t take this new threat lightly, as Wyoming has a history of desperate attempts to allow hunters around the world to shoot its grizzly bears. The state was on the verge of holding the first trophy hunting season for grizzly bears in decades last fall, and an eleven-hour injunction won by HSUS and our partners ended the needless slaughter of 23 bears in that first season alone. This grace period was extended when we later won the decision that put Wyoming bears back on the federal endangered species list. Newberg fears the bear hunt could be filmed and posted on social media. This would set off a firestorm. He witnessed the black eye that Montana suffered when Yellowstone bison were shot in the snow just outside the park. Since the dawn of time, bears and humans have been two similar, intelligent and omnivorous species, competing for the same environment and food sources. No wonder the idea of bear hunting still makes people on both sides of the hunting debate very emotional. Let`s take a look at some of the arguments for and against grizzly bear hunting in the Lower 48.
Grizzly bears, regardless of genetics, differ significantly from the rest of brown bear populations in both appearance (characteristic “gray-haired” hair) and behaviour. All brown bears combine predation and foraging for plant-based foods in their diet, but grizzly bears are less vegetarian and more carnivorous than the average bear. This influences their attitude: grizzly bears are among the most aggressive bears in the world – no wonder early American explorers dubbed them Ursus horribilis – and grizzly bear hunting is probably the only truly dangerous game hunt available in North America. Bear hunting is a very emotional activity, and it is the primary emotions that drive hunters to find bears, not the prospect of a large carpet or an entry in the trophy book. Scott Weber, a member of an organization called the Wyoming Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, put up a billboard in his town in 2016 at the height of the summer season showing a hunter dressed in camouflage next to a dead grizzly bear. He told local newspaper Cody Enterprise: “The biggest trophy in the Lower 48 is a male grizzly bear. Now, you don`t have to go to Alaska to catch a grizzly bear. After the five-year review of CAS status in March, the bear population in the bottom 48 ranged from 700 to 800 in 1975. Now, in the NCDE alone, there are nearly 1,100, state officials said. “I have no confidence that Montana, at least now, can responsibly deal with its wildlife and especially predators like grizzly bears,” Zaccardi told CNN. Bears are difficult to hunt because they usually live in dense forests or dense brush.
However, they are easy to catch. [16] Where they are frequently hunted, bears become purely nocturnal. [6] “As soon as someone shoots a bear like Grizzly 399, accidentally, defiantly or stupidly, it becomes a disaster for the hunting community on the scale of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Nowhere in the Endangered Species Act does it say that animals brought back from near oblivion to a particular location may or may not be hunted after restoration. For example, Americans do not legally hunt bald eagles for this sport, and peregrine falcons are not classified as wild birds available for wing shooting, although they can make fascinating trophies on a wall. Montana wildlife officials may soon allow grizzly bear hunting in areas around Glacier and Yellowstone national parks if the northern Rocky Mountain states of the United States succeed in their attempts to lift federal protections for animals. The petition would remove the species from the list of endangered wildlife and plant species, which could remove the protection of the species and allow it to be publicly hunted again. The Siberian brown bear (Ursus arctos collaris) is larger than the Eurasian brown bear, with denser bones and a slightly larger and heavier skull.
Its fur is considered one of the most lush. It is smaller than the Kamchatka brown bear, although it is also said to be equal to an American grizzly bear in its aggression. It lives east of the Yenisei River in almost all of Siberia (although it is absent from the habitats of Kamchatka and Amur brown bears). It is also found in northern Mongolia, the far north of Xinjiang and the far east of Kazakhstan. They are usually hunted in late August and early June in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Irkutsk Krai and Yakutia. These hunts usually take place on rugged and heavily forested terrain, in the foothills of the mountains or along the coasts where the forest is less dense. [3] The brown Amur bear (Ursus arctos lasiotus) is smaller and darker than the Kamchatka brown bear, with a different-shaped skull and much larger teeth.