Bringing Grizzly Bears Back to the North Cascades of Washington - Is there a point?

​worldanimalnews.com/after-nearly-being-hunted-to-extinction-grizzly-bears-may-be-restored-to-the-north-cascades-of-washington-public-comment-period-now-open/

The National Park Service & USFWS announced they were beginning an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to determine their options for reintroducing grizzly bears to the North Cascades of Washington. Historically, grizzly bears roamed these parts for hundreds of years until humans nearly eradicated them. In fact, the last grizzly bear spotted in the North Cascades was way back in 1996. The EIS will determine what the bets path is for reintroducing grizzles and eventually working towards removing the bears from the Endangered Species Act. While I applaud this news, I'm not incredibly hopeful as we watch the relentless assault on wolves unfold on a daily basis.

Image taken from World Animal News. Not my image.

Wolves are being hunted to extinction in the North Rockies region of the United States. Having spent 45 years under federal protection only to immediately be hunted rapidly is an indication of how society still views predatory animals like wolves & bears. Advocacy and conservation groups are urging the government to relist wolves in order to stop the assault on their livelihood but while that decision looks, wolves are being slaughtered. If we look at how wolves are currently being managed and the attitude towards them, can we be confident that grizzly bears will not face the exact same fate upon being reintroduced?

Until we can get people to understand the importance of predatory animals for an ecosystem, it's almost laughable trying to reintroduce a species like the grizzly. When you consider the amount of time and resources spent on rehabilitating a species, can we be confident that it will be lucrative for us given what we're seeing with wolves? As I stated, 45 years wolves spent under protections and within a mere 2 months of being delisted, hunting competitions involving wolves commenced. In some states, we're talking up to 90% of the wolves within the state being hunted legally. What exactly was the point of exhausting 45 years of efforts to rehabilitate wolves if there wasn't going to be any kind of educational program that followed? It seems to me that those 45 years were wasted as we watch wolves being hunted to near extinction once again.

If EVERYONE isn't on board with conservation, it will not succeed. If we're simply going to bring back grizzlies, delist them, and then watch them be eradicated until they inevitably require federal protection again, then what is the point? I mean, how much money and time are we willing to waste knowing that as soon as grizzlies are delisted, they'll likely be hunted to a point where they need protections again? We're literally watching this happen with wolves. It's been a mere two years since wolves were delisted and they're already in peril as calls to reissue those protections go unheard. That's why we need to shift society's view of these predators because if people don't respect them and their contributions to a healthy ecosystem, then we're bringing them back to inevitably be hunted. 

Look, I strongly support the reintroduction of any species that humans have pushed to the brink of extinction. However, I fear that without a continued education program that focuses on the importance of these animals, then what's stopping these hunters from waiting for their chance to shoot and kill grizzlies? I want to be positive but as I said, this story is already unfolding with wolves and it isn't going well.

Learn more about the reintroduction of grizzles through the link at the top of this post. What do you guys think? Can humans be trusted to respect grizzles once they're reintroduced or will history repeat itself?

HAPPY VEG