Summary:
Grizzly bears are an intelligent and surprisingly sweet species. They populate some of Alaska looking for salmon and bearing young. The population of grizzly bears in North America are growing. Though the population is growing, some smaller populated areas are not making it easy for bears to reproduce. In smaller populations, inbreeding is common and causes many diseases. The reason grizzly bears are considered a keystone species is because they hint, scavenge, forage, and put nutrients back into the soil. Though the population of these bears are rising many are wondering if the population of bears are enough. Others believe that the population still needs to bounce back.
Opinion:
I believe that the population of grizzly bears should be allowed to rise. In class, we saw that the amount of species in a food chain will eventually equal out. People have nothing to be afraid of. If they take care of their properties and livestock then they will not have a problem with the bears. While reading this article I also found that bears are highly intelligent which surprised me. I always thought they were not that smart. Apparently they are smarter than most dogs and can process information almost as well as a human infant. These bears are an important and vital piece in the ecosystem.
Question Time!:
- How else can people prevent bear mauling?
- Why do you think people hunt these bears?
- What can we do to help the bears thrive?
- Wow else could the bear population be threatened besides human interference?
It might be difficult to prevent bear mauling because bears can be hard to control. In direct connection to this, I think people hunt bears purely out of fear of what the bears can do to them. Fear is definitely known to make people do crazy things. There is also the food and recreational aspect. Some people feel enjoyment from hunting and do it for solely for that reason. One option i can think of is to leave the bears alone, or to come up with law stopping the hunting of these bears. The bear population is also being threatened by a lack of resources. When bears run out and try to travel somewhere else it could be dangerous.
ReplyDeleteLisa first off good article.
ReplyDeleteOpinion
I don't think i would even of noticed this was a concern if you did not post this article. i find it interesting that people find bears bad but like stated above they are very important. My connection to this article is that while i was in Alaska i got to see bears and really thought that they were cute. i also learned that they will usually only maul you if you get near there cubs.
Reflection
I realize the value of everything and tighter regulations or laws should be put in place
http://www.hicker-fine-art.com/data/media/3/brown-bears-fishing_6.jpg
this is a great picture of brown bears
i think people ca prevent mauling by not harassing bears and don't go where they are known to be.
Really great topic, nice job. We learned about this the same time you posted it!!
ReplyDeleteI definitely think that the bear populations should be allowed to grow. Bears are not that much of a problem to humans, and unlike deer and other popular game mammals, have a population on the lower side. I agree with mara's point, thoug some of the hunting must be for food, but they should not be hunted as much in areas south of Alaska, where they have a lower concentration. This is a good article and like Matt, I had no ida of this issue prior to reading this. I think that a good way to prevent bear mauling is to keep humans from being stupid about bears. We need to educate more people about what to do when one is seen, what to do for each species, how to keep food from attracting bears into camp or how to keep them away from food, and other important subjects.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Justin and think that the population of grizzlies should grow and I believe they need to. If many small populations are being impacted negatively from inbreeding and losing part of the population, then it will ultimately lead to a possible threat of endangering the grizzly species over time, because of many small populations being deteriorated. Humans definitely need to cut down on bear hunting and I think that humans do it purely for enjoyment. What we need to do to cut down on bear hunting and let the bears thrive is let humans know really what they are doing, directly impacting grizzly bear population negatively. The grizzlies need to stop inbreeding and gain population.
ReplyDelete