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Let Bears Live Free: Jack Boudreau's Perspective Part II

By 250 News

by Jack Boudreau

This is the second installment in a four part series submitted by Jack Boudreau, outdoorsman and local author.

 Boudreau has written several books which focus on outdoor life in the region including; Grizzly Bear Mountain, Crazy Man's Creek, Mountains, Campfires and Memories, Wilderness Dreams and Wild and Free. 

Last month, he attended the Charlie Russell “Living with Bears” presentation at UNBC. 

Boudreau offers a different view of living with bears. 

Part Two: Developing Bad Habits

I can’t help but feel that all the work done by bear experts in establishing safe guidelines for dealing with bears has just been flushed down the drain by Mr. Russell’s presentation. And all this at a time when many young people are working in the wilderness with the constant danger of bear encounters. Is it right to send young, inexperienced people into the wilderness armed with this ridiculous, one-sided view of tamed bears? How will this prepare them for meeting wild animals in the forest?

It is my belief that in almost every instance where people take bears into captivity that the objective is for personal gain or for human entertainment, rather than for the well being of the bears. What they often don’t tell us is that they feed these bears to make them become dependent upon them and consequently hang around the area for close-up photography. Without food to entice the bears, they would move away in their never-ending search for food. In fact, from my observations it seems that grizzlies have a restless nature that forces them to move a lot. Even in the mountains in late fall when they are feeding on their beloved avalanche lilies, they usually keep moving and the following day have moved along the mountains. As well, grizzlies like to move up and down the mountains with the seasons, taking advantage of the changing food supply. To pen them up is to deny them access to their natural foods.

Whenever I learn that a person goes into a wilderness area and in a matter of days is on a first name basis with a bear, I immediately suspect that some very tasty food is being supplied. How else can we explain the fact that my brother Clarence and I wandered the forests and mountains for over 50 years without finding a bear that would chum around with us. The only possible exception was when Clarence and two other men were befriended along a stream by a black bear. The bear was in poor physical condition and wanted to invite them to lunch. The men declined the invitation and left the area. That bear followed them until they reached their vehicle.

One thing is certain, once bears become habituated, problems result, and therefore any person that tames a bear for whatever reason is doing incredible harm. Wildlife personnel are adamant that it is illegal to feed bears, and rightfully so. Often the wildlife officers are painted as the bad guys when they have to deal with the end result of habituated bears.

The people that feed us the line that man and bears can live together in harmony ignore decades of evidence to the contrary. Carried to its conclusion, we would have tame bears in all our towns and cities looking for houses or vehicles to break into whenever they smelled food. A short visit to Churchill, Manitoba when the polar bears invade will prove that we do not want this problem. It seems ridiculous to me that some people just do not understand that bears should be left wild. It works best that way for all concerned.

Whenever someone is mauled or killed, such as the man and woman that were killed and eaten by a boar grizzly recently in Alaska, excuses for the bear’s behaviour abound. In this case it was suggested that the boar was from out of the area and didn’t recognize this man who had frequented the area for years. Don’t believe it. You can bet your boots that this boar grizzly had travelled that area many times throughout the years. A boar grizzly is a creature of habit and he often follows the same trails throughout his home range for his entire lifetime.

So what was the reason for these deaths? That bear was hungry and decided to have idiot steak for dinner. The reason I say “idiot” is because this man may have had the right to commit suicide, but he did not have the right to take his girlfriend with him.

Tomorrow, Boudreau talks about letting nature take its course.

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