A plan by Wyoming officials to relocate two grizzly
bears with a taste for beef has environmentalists concerned. They
say cows are taking precedence over bears in important grizzly
habitat near Jackson, Wyo.
In mid-September,
Wyoming officials decided to move one bear from a grazing allotment
inside Grand Teton National Park and another from the an allotment
inside Bridger-Teton National Forest after complaints from local
rancher Terry Schramm. Schramm has lost 12 cows this year to
bears.
Environmentalists charge that moving out a
grizzly disturbs years of research on grizzly-cattle conflicts. In
addition, they say, two-thirds of the allotment is designated as
“Situation 1” habitat, where policy requires that conflicts be
resolved in favor of the bear, a threatened species under the
Endangered Species Act.
Meredith Taylor of the
nonprofit Greater Yellowstone Coalition called moving the bears out
a “quick fix,” especially since other grizzlies have already taken
up killing cattle on the allotment. But John Talbott, director of
Wyoming’s Game and Fish Department, says the agency will continue
to remove or even kill the bears if cattle attacks persist. Taylor
believes a better response would be to remove dead carcasses that
attract bears, or to shift the cattle to other available
allotments.
*Warren
Cornwall
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Bears forced to defer to cows.
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