Grizzlies | 60 Minutes Archive
In a Nutshell
Grizzly bears in the lower 48 states have recovered from a few hundred in the 1960s to nearly 2,000 today through Endangered Species Act protections, with their range more than doubling since 1975. Montana's growing human population has increased conflicts as bears raid livestock, crops, garbage, and chicken coops, prompting electric fencing and other mitigation efforts. Problem bears are relocated or euthanized when they become food-conditioned threats, with nearly 50 killed last year, while survivors like attack victim Andrew Broy accept coexistence as essential to keeping the ecosystem wild.
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When Lewis and Clark first encountered grizzly bears, there may have been 100,000 of them in the American West from what is now Canada all the way down to Mexico. Grizzlies are among the most fearsome predators on the planet. For the next 150 years, they were systematically exterminated by settlers, ranchers, and farmers who saw them as a threat to their lives and livelihoods. By the 1960s, there were just a few hundred left in the lower 48 states. In 1975, grizzly bears were among the first animals to be protected under the Endangered Species Act.
In the Swan Mountains of Northwestern Montana, state bear specialist Eric Wenham and colleague Milan Vinks check snares baited with beaver meat. A grizzly bear is captured in a wire snare around its wrist. The team estimates the bear weighs around 300 lb, which is midsize for a grizzly. Grizzlies can weigh as much as 1,000 lb and stand 9 ft tall on their hind legs. Wenham and Vinks mix a cocktail of veterinary sedatives and load them into a dart gun. Vinks carries a shotgun loaded with lethal ammunition as backup. Wenham states that neither the tranquilizer nor the snare cause lasting harm, and both are needed to attach radio collars and track population recovery.
Hillary Kulie, wildlife biologist in charge of grizzly bear recovery for the US Fish and Wildlife Service, explains that grizzly bears were listed in 1975 as a threatened species in the lower 48 states. Their range had been reduced by about 98%. Two places grizzlies survived were Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks. Starting 45 years ago, recovery efforts focused on millions of acres around those parks. The population has more than tripled and their range is now more than double what it was at the time of listing.
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