Washington State Grizzly Bears

[JD338]

Looks like there is going to be an effort to reintroduce Grizzly Bears to Washington Cascades.

Is Washington About to Get Grizzly Bears?

After decades of absence, grizzly bears may be returning to Washington’s North Cascades. The US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is considering a reintroduction plan that aims to put the species back on a large swath of their historical home range. Under the plan, the agency is proposing to...

www.themeateater.com

JD338

 

[DrMike]

My wife has a cousin living in Bellingham. It has been interesting hearing her objections to this plan. She claims that residents of that coastal city are less than ecstatic about this plan. I'll look forward to Guy's take on the matter.

 

[lefty315]

Downtown Seattle would be a great place to start, along with the suburbs. Plenty of food for them there…

 

[salmonchaser]

There have been sightings in the North Cascade region for years. None by the state or feds biologists Apparently. Sure they could be color phase black bears. I’m just waiting for some poor guy from Bellingham to shoot one, they’re not there after all so it must be a black bear, see how hard they prosecute him.

 

[JD338]

Downtown Seattle would be a great place to start, along with the suburbs. Plenty of food for them there…

Portland Oregon would be another good place to start.

JD338

 

[Guy Miner]

A grizzly was captured recently here in Washington:

Grizzly bear captured north of Colville

COLVILLE, Wash. - A young grizzly bear was captured north of Colville in the Onion Creek area.

www.khq.com

They've always been here, just in small numbers. No need to import any. The areas they're looking to release grizzlies into are heavily used by hikers. Ranches and farms are nearby. They're probably in the North Cascades. Nothing preventing them from wandering down from Canada. They've been confirmed over in the northeast corner of the state adjacent to both Canada and Idaho. I've hunted there a few times for whitetail & black bear.

The folks who live in these rural areas have spoken out against them, and our congressional representative was able to get the feds to back off a few years ago when they wanted to release grizzlies here in Washington. I think that the feds may just go ahead and do it anyway. There have been reports of gov't pickups hauling horse trailers up to the wilderness areas, without any horses in them. Rumors are running wild.

Guy

 

[str8meat]

They are just really big black bears just like the really big coyotes they brought into the state with no management plan.

 

[Guy Miner]

It's funny - if there haven't been grizzlies in Washington... Why then have we been required to take the online grizzly identification course and test to hunt certain areas in northern Washington?

 

[JD338]

Sounds like your state leadership is like ours.

JD338