Doug's Blog

Please read the excellent article in today’s New York Times op-ed on the bison slaughter in Yellowstone. This lingering outrage remains a slap in the face of all things wild and reasonable: How little things have changed for the buffalo. I went back to the articles I had written about Yellowstone bison 20 years ago and was appalled how today so much is the same—the myth of brucellosis, the holy right of cattle grazing on public land and the irrational hatred, the need to kill the dark animals of Yellowstone--the wolf, the grizzly and the bison. The cover stories in Audubon and Wild Earth were written in response to the slaughter of over a thousand bison during the winter of 1996-1997, the same year the Buffalo Field Campaign was organized. And still, the National Park Service is pimping for the well-funded livestock industry. Shame on us and, yes, we are all in this together. Support the Campaign and tell Yellowstone Park to read its own mandate. 

For the wild,   Doug Peacock

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/15/opinion/the-bison-roundup-the-government-wants-to-hide.html

Yellowstone Park continues to break its own visitation records. Millions of Americans flock to see its world famous animal spectical. One of Yellowstone's most iconic creatures, the endangered Grizzly Bear, has become a target for wandering outside the park boundary. Its seasonal food sources there are now gone as a result of climate change so it has to move to survive. Being a hungry bear is not a good enough reason for states around Yellowstone to call for a trophy hunt of this creature beloved by millions. Trophy hunting would spell disaster for the grizzly as it struggles to adapt to so many human pressures on its shrinking wilderness home. Trophy hunting should never be part of Grizzly Bear management. Please join me in demanding no tolerance for trophy hunts of the endangered Grizzly.

Sign the Petition

More News
1/14/16 - Bear necessities Yellowstone grizzlies still need federal protection - Missoula Independent

http://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/news/15054.htm

DO NOT LET THE GOVERNMENT KILL THIS BEAR:

We need to honor this hiker and let the mother bear roam wild. The reason: Mother grizzlies never intentionally kill humans; they don't care about us, only the safety of their cubs. The hiker surprised the sow grizzly. We will never know exactly how but likely she was on a day bed and he got too close. The hiker had wounds on his arms, indicating he probably fought back, an understandable but bad reaction to a mother bear to whom resistance means her cubs are still in danger. We don't know why she made contact; close proximity possibly made worse by running. Running or trying to climb a tree after a mother grizzly with cubs is the worst choice, followed by fighting back. Apparently, the hiker's body was cached and fed upon. This most disturbing of consequences needs to seen in context of the natural world of the bear. Anything dead out there is Yellowstone this time of year is seen as a most valuable food source during the lean times of summer. Witness past bison carcasses in Hayden Valley where humans got too close, then in turn were eaten too. Once dead, a human is like any other animal. If several grizzlies are around, the most dominant animal, often a big male, will appropriate the carcass. So if a mother bear killed a human in perceived defense of her cubs, that doesn't mean she cached or fed on the body. The salient point here: This mother bear is no more likely to repeat this most natural of aggressions--kill, or consume a human--than any other mother grizzly bear in the world. The feds are more nervous about litigation and bad press than public safety. The only way to totally protect the public from wild bears and insure safety for park visitors is to kill off all the grizzlies. the federal agencies don't want that any more than we do. Help them clarify their thinking. This was a defensive natural act for a wild grizzly. It will probably never happen again to this mother bear, though of course it might--and that is the great value of wilderness and their risky animals. The hiker was experienced, knew the area well and loved to take this hike. His now missing opinion is what would have mattered to me: What would he have wanted for the fate of this bear?

Doug Peacock, 8-8-2016, Northern Yellowstone

Recent piece by David Gessner.
http://www.salon.com/2015/08/02/the_real_grizzly_man_no_one_knows_brown_bears_like_vietnam_vet_monkey_wrencher_wild_man_doug_peacock/