NEWS

Bold Visions Conservation's Howls, Growls, and More!

Why Bears Matter

I dream about bears.

I am not sure when bears entered my subconscious in such a strange and vivid way, but they did, and I think they may be here to stay. I dream about ferocious grizzlies and playful, fat black bears. I dream about big white bears with paws the size of dinner plates and hollow hair that gleams creamy-yellow in the northern sun. In my dreams, I see cubs climbing trees and sliding over the ice. I sometimes think I can smell them in my sleep; I’ve been told they smell of pine sap and animal musk. Sweet, sticky, fresh, brutal. —Barry Lopez

Stephen Capra, Bold Visions Conservation Bears are a wonderous species. Full of fun and gamesmanship, and yes, they pose a threat to humans. But that threat is only amplified by human stupidity and the actions of the very agencies that are, by design, the ones who should protect them. In Montana and Idaho, a rash of grizzly killings is found at the hands of sportsmen who refuse to use bear spray but instead go out with a pistol or rifle even when hunting is not in season. We are left with their word against that of a dead bear. Why not use bear spray? If you are that afraid, don't venture into the woods. Bear spray should be mandatory, and if they choose to shoot first, they should pay a price for their ignorance. The killings are now in Tom Miner Basin, near Whitefish, and last Saturday, a ten-year-old female with a cub near West Yellowstone. But in these states, people are rewarded for killing. The agencies and legislature continue their mad rush to delist bears. Still, in reality, they are already well underway in the delisting by killing as many bears as possible. We also do not know the nod and wink that goes on with sportsmen, as they insist on carrying guns when bear spray will suffice. Groups such as the NRA, Congressional Sportsmen Caucus, and the Foundation for Wildlife Management are printing money to get the billboards up that say, "Delist Grizzlies," a conservation success story; they are covering Idaho and Montana. They are drooling to kill this wild and beautiful creature.

Again, I have spent considerable time in bear country. When I hiked from Mexico to Canada, the length of the Continental Divide, I did so with no gun and no bear spray. But our camp was immaculate, and we had our food hung between trees. In Alaska, the same, and I had grizzlies sit on the side of my tent in the middle of the night, the one time we brought cough drops into the tent. I do not recommend such actions, but it was close to thirty years ago. Bear spray was unavailable then; I carry it on all hikes and backpacks today. The Game Commission, for their part, led by Pat Tabor's fury at predators, kills bears almost every chance they get. The reasons change, but it is clear Governor Gianforte has waged a war to kill and delist this bear of soul and might. If the feds won't delist, then the Republican Governors of Idaho and Montana will kill by proxy. It is yet another way that Republicans thumb their nose at federal regulations. Yet, its crickets come from Martha Williams, who runs US Fish and Wildlife, because she never wants to get cross-wise with sportsmen.

Grizzly bears are the symbol of wildness; they have come back from the brink, but it seems much like wolves, many in rural communities have branded them a real threat to their way of life. It is clear that anything that threatens cattle or sheep moves to the endangered list from being killed or is quickly delisted so they can commence the slaughter. Bears do not want to deal with people; they are, by nature, solitary creatures. Mothers, on the other hand, must raise their cubs. This is perhaps the most dangerous time for an encounter, but even then, the times are rare. Gianforte has made clear that he wants trapping to occur in Grizzly country despite the conflict with cubs and bears being caught in snares or wolf traps. How will we know if the public is in danger? The reality is if you come across a grizzly caught in a trap, it is a very dangerous situation. But in Idaho and Montana, our leaders do not care. The question boils down to why. Why do they ever want to allow a hunting season on this beautiful creature? The answer must be never, and we must fight like hell to make clear there is not the time to allow grizzlies to be killed for sport, period. More than that, we need more transparency. Why did the hunters and fishermen not have bear spray? It must be mandatory. Again, it seems like a manhood thing for some, but it needs to be made clear if you shoot before spraying, you will do time. The feds should decide the fate of any bear, not the state, and they need to stop yielding to the political pressure that national sportsmen's groups are putting on agencies and elected officials.

We need more grizzlies in more states, not less. Predators are essential for healthy lands and wildlife. We cannot accept the slaughter the states will put on grizzlies if they are delisted because it won't just be the number of bears people are allowed to kill; it will be the killing on public lands that livestock grazers utilize and the constant sportsman that feels a need to shoot first.

I have often thought of those who lived during the slaughter of bison and wildlife on the Great Plains; they were witness to ignorance on steroids, and I am sure many cried and felt the pain of the Manifest Destiny era. Today, we know far more about the feeling of wildlife. We may never live long enough to have the type of co-existence I dream of. Still, if we do not fight and fight like hell, we cannot break the lava of ignorance that flows across the West and threatens to destroy all that is wild and beautiful. It is our responsibility as humans to give back for the sins of our past.

We need to be clear in our voice: no hunting season ever for grizzlies, and take back the wildlife we love and respect to create a new era in wildlife co-existence.

Game and Fish

The Man that lives to destroy Beautiful Wildlife

Stephen Capra, Bold Visions Conservation

I had planned to change subjects this weekend, not so much gloom and doom, but the story that broke about the slaughter of grizzly bears in Alaska demonstrates the complete contempt that state wildlife agencies hold for predator species.

In Alaska, the state game department found it logical to ariel gun 94 grizzly bears, five black bears, and five wolves, that's right, 94 grizzlies, all in a ridiculous attempt to reintroduce a small caribou heard so hunters could kill them.

Once again, this misguided and consistent push by these agencies to give to the trophy hunting industry has created a backlash. Still, it also portends what will happen in Idaho and Montana if we allow grizzlies to be killed. Wolves are already being the brunt of such misguided ideals.

On a federal level, it's the constant; agencies choose to say we are not doing this…. We are outraged, and misguided conservationists are wrongly blaming us…. Really?

Here in Montana, Governor Greg Gianforte continues his efforts to destroy what was once considered one of the finest wildlife agencies in the nation. Today, he posted and made clear he wants trapping to occur in grizzly country despite the danger it poses to bears and cubs. His Fish, Wildlife and Parks was just busted for deliberately lying about a poll they took of hunters related to how they feel the agency is managing elk hunting.

The agency, in what they internally refer to as "squishy," added in numbers that were not accurate, turning a very divided poll into one claiming 73% supported the agency's handling. That number has proven false, and now the agency says- make your own determination. Pat Tabor, who is on the commission and pushed for more wolf killing and killing more than 40% of mountain lions in the state, now wants to be chairman of the committee. He already is a defacto head, but he wants more. (Please sign our petition to have him removed.) This is the disgraceful state of this once proud agency, and its demise results from one man- Governor Greg Gianforte, a trapper and trophy hunter. But he is not alone; the Governors of Idaho and Wyoming are trying to privatize wildlife and destroy predators; thus, the time has come to look at repealing Pittman-Robertson.

From the perspective of many, we want the chance to see wildlife. No dead or trapped, but alive. We want to develop a new relationship with species that live in fear of us. We want to hike in areas free of cows, and we want a strong voice pertaining to wildlife. We want and demand an end to trapping and snaring, for there is no justification for such actions during an extinction crisis. As America tries to impart significant influence on the world and to make freedom a core principle in foreign countries, we still show our own ignorance and faults as we allow such destruction to occur as people the world over flock to Yellowstone, to find out we allow the slaughter of both wolves and bison just a few feet from the park's border. Such actions mock our principles as a nation; they reinforce how we tell nations to operate while we cynically allow the slaughter of such valuable wildlife and create our own human-based, legally allowed extinction of wolves and soon grizzlies. Groups that use the euphonism-sportsmen are often at the forefront of such destructive practices. The Leopoldian practices that guided many a generation are being lost to technology and a media frenzy supporting hunting and getting the trophy animal, no matter the cost. Groups like the Safari Club and the Foundation for Wildlife Management put money into campaigns and suck up to the Wildlife Agencies they control, along with Republican and Democratic legislatures and Governors.

Pitman-Robertson and Dingell-Johnson are the federal funds that support wildlife agencies. Pittman-Robertson comes from the 10 percent surcharge on ammunition and guns, and Dingell-Johnson comes from boats and fishing gear, giving sportsmen overwhelming power in Washington. As many a Senator has said to me, "Sportsmen pay their way; what about you guys?" But both these funds are designed to support, not slaughter wildlife, and that is where Alaska, Idaho, and Montana fall short. They are using this federal money to fund the same agencies to slaughter predator species. This should disqualify them from receiving this federal funding. Many conservation groups have made this demand at the federal level since 2021. But here again, the federal agencies find it convenient to say, "We have no real power here." Once again, Western Senators, members of Congress, and rogue Governors continue to demand that the American West be managed as it was in the 1880s, giving stockmen and hunters the power to dictate wildlife policy. It is immoral and has led to bounties in our modern era. It rewards the scum that traps and tortures wildlife for such bounties without regard to the insanity they are unleashing. In Montana, at the latest Fish, Wildlife and Parks hearing, we were witness to the fact that the voices of those opposed to the killing and trapping of wolves were not just ignored; the Commission could have cared less. They raised the quota on killing wolves as we sat, testified, and made sound scientific arguments for their protection, with Pat Tabor leading the way.

One dam that must crack in these days of funding is that people who love and photograph or watch wildlife should also have an avenue to fund agencies. However, this requires agencies to listen to and integrate our voice into policy, something major sportsmen organizations have fought tooth and nail. The reform of state wildlife agencies will only occur when the spigot of federal funding is dried up or comes with strict limits on their destructive activities. Still, Democrats show no such inclination, and Republicans are a lost cause on this until the outrage is loud and unrelenting. Interior Secretary Haaland is silent as the issue is considered a threat to Senator Jon Tester's reelection. Sportsmen for their part are being influenced by the radical propaganda being fed to them daily by the NRA, Safari Club, and other groups that could care less about science and wildlife.

SIGN OUR PETITION TO REMOVE PAT TABOR!

To think of the enchantment of seeing a grizzly in the wild, something I have been blessed to see, and then to realize these cowards shot 94 of them from a plane. To imagine that state agencies collar some wolves so hunters can go directly to their dens to kill them makes clear this is not about sport. Also, to remind you that trappers in Idaho cut out the babies from a pregnant female wolf so they can claim a bounty on each one, displaying the sickness embedded in state wildlife agencies that promote such arcane efforts. This cancer can only be removed when the money is cut off and the agencies are rebuilt from the ground up. Once again, let me say it: Wildlife does not need management; it is people that need to be managed. Whoever thought killing 94 bears was a good idea should never be allowed to work in any position dealing with wildlife again. We need to make clear the time for Pittman-Robertson funding to end is now.

September Blues

Stephen Capra, Bold Visions Conservation

With so much happening to wildlife, I feel the time has come to write more and work to engage the public in Montana and Idaho. With September upon us, the beginning of hunting season likely means those with a bow who know where wolves are denning are hungry to destroy the beauty that defines wildness. They are the ugly souls that inhabit the forest.

Their goal is to display their ignorance and fears and kill an animal so powerful and beautiful that they somehow feel a rush of eternal strength.

Yet we know the reality: they are worthless humans whose souls must answer for their carnage. Wolves belong in the West; they improve their habitat and keep the elk moving. They free wildlife of disease and improve our waterways. Despite the harassment we get, they do not need the management that so many cry about.

We must look at our public lands as a gift to all Americans. On these lands, we must demand the full circle of wildlife, not just what trophy hunters, trappers, and ranchers desire. What do we want?

But we can make a difference. Much like the gun debate, entrenched interests continue to yield power, but that power is eroding. It is not enough to oppose trapping; we must have a level of outrage! We must demand that Fish, Wildlife and Parks be torn down and rebuilt with a conservation, not an extinction goal. We also have to talk more and educate the public about wildlife's pain and suffering. Trappers tell me wildlife feels no pain; the suffering wolves are going through is unimaginable and must stop. The stress and suffering are real, and it begins with bow season in September and will not end till trapping stops on March 15th. This is not just cruel; it is sick. Take some time and educate yourself about The Foundation for Wildlife Management. They are perhaps the most damaging of these groups, and they are the organization that started the bounty program and whose board and ED love to trap and kill wolves. Their next effort will be grizzlies. They must be stopped, and we will cover them in increasing detail in the months ahead.

People are tired and frustrated by all this, and that is what these groups and the Commission are trying to achieve. We must fight back with anger and focus and threaten the very legitimacy that they cling to that gives them power. It begins with a serious effort to end the current Commission and to make efforts to defend the department by blocking the monies received by Pittman-Robertson and Dingell-Johnson. We must create a separate commission run by select citizens and wildlife groups that issues its own statements and data to show this agency's disconnect clearly. One thing is clear: We must vocally make clear this agency and Commission have no credibility and that the time has come to rebuild from the ground up so that wildlife has a chance to thrive.