Hannah Orloff - Article on the Loss of Bear 399 and What It Means for Wildlife Conservation

 A local news article out of Jackson, Wyoming, was just one report out of thousands circulating about the loss of bear 399 from Grand Teton Park this past week. On October 22nd the 28 year old female grizzly was struck by a vehicle on a highway in Wyoming where her reign as the "queen of the Tetons" came to an end. 399 was dubbed the oldest known reproducing grizzly bear in the northwest region of the U.S., and her contributions towards regrowing the grizzly population from 100 in the 70s to over 1,000 today has been recognized by biologists and park visitors. Her death shattered the internet as people who followed her or had the chance to catch a glimpse of her in person were heartbroken at the way she had to go. She also had her last cub with her, referred to as "spirit" that has disappeared since the event, however biologists believe he is alive and able to survive on his own at this point in time. It is fascinating the age of the internet has allowed people from all over the country to become involved with the conservation of a species, as the majority of people who mourned her death never encountered the bear in person but rather would check in on her yearly to see how she was doing. The internet and social media can be a helpful tool when trying to educate and spread awareness on topics that are localized like the preservation of a single population all the way across the country. In Wyoming a vigil was held for this bear and her ashes were spread out where she used to roam frequently. For a wild bear, she was treated like an equal to a person: respected, loved, and memorialized. But for the sake of conservation, is humanizing wildlife the right approach? 

    This question becomes a challenge to solve because people often remove themselves from the concept of nature, and our current methods of conservation often see ourselves as having total control over the survival or death of a species and its landscape. If certain wildlife species become grouped in with man, they could lose their identity within the ecosystem which may affect how conservation methods protect them. For example, if bears are seen as equals to people, then bears lose the respect from people as another large and powerful carnivore on the planet. There will be a lack of support for the lethal or physical removal of bears, even if it is necessary for the protection of people or for the benefit of the animal. As bear populations continue to grow due to conservation laws, their habitat ranges are changing because of competition and the changing climate. It is a part of the reason why bear 399 was struck by a motorist, she was 40 miles south of her typical range because she was looking for more food resources before the winter. Conserving a species is about protecting them and managing them, which may include controlling population numbers. We as a species have destroyed most of the habitat that these animals used to have to roam, so their traditional population numbers are just not going to be able to be supported by the ecosystem, which then pushes them into our areas and results in vehicular crashes like what happened to 399. So as populations of large species like bears continue to grow, the consideration that we will be in contact with these species more will have to be considered. Managing wildlife is not as simple as allowing a species to repopulate and roam since human development has to be considered in the equation, which means that humanizing a species may bring more harm than good in the overall protection and sustainability of their population. 

link to article here: https://www.krem.com/article/news/local/vigil-grizzly-no-399-grand-teton-bear/293-183f0f67-218a-4efb-be85-78b5456f0f2e