Magnificent and wild, the grizzly bear of the American West has a fearsome reputation. But as a population boom forces them from their deep wilderness habitat of the Rocky Mountains, their increasingly close encounters with humans are altering their lifestyles, making them lazy and fat.
“We’ve got bears spending the whole summer eating oats in the field, out there with the elk and the deer, and getting fatter and fatter,” said Jamie Jonkel, a grizzly manager and wildlife conflict specialist.
“They’ve started really loving the good life, much like the average American. Some of them still move into the high country in the summer, but some just set up shop and don’t move.”
A recent census by scientific agencies put the grizzly population in Yellowstone national park and surrounding areas of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho at 603.
That is more than three times the population in 1975 when hunting was outlawed and grizzlies were protected as an endangered species.
The population rise has put pressure on the grizzlies’ food sources in high wilderness areas. So too has a beetle infestation that killed off huge swaths of pine across the Rockies and with them the pine nuts the grizzlies rely on in late summer and autumn.
Over the years, growing population centres have brought humans closer to areas that were once entirely wild. This has raised the potential for violent clashes, with deadly consequences for bear and human.
At least 45 grizzlies have been reported killed so far this year. Two people have been fatally mauled.
With humans and bears seemingly destined to live in closer proximity, experts are working to train locals coexistence strategies. — Guardian News & Media 2010