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, conservation experts say.
"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 with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the state government's conservation agency.
"They've started really loving the good life, much like the average American," said Jonkel, who led a tour of reporters from the Society for Environmental Journalists.
"Some of them still move into the high country in the summer, but some of them just set up shop and don't move. You can see grizzlies out there in the fields all day lazing about grazing on alfafa while a kid is kicking a soccer ball around," he said.
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. Wildlife experts suspect it could be even higher.
The population rise has put pressure on the grizzlies' food source in high wilderness areas. So too has a beetle infestation which has killed off huge swaths of pine across the Rockies, and with them the pine nuts that the grizzlies rely on in late summer and autumn.
The bears are not the only creatures on the move. 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, mostly by hunters in self-defence or government wildlife officials. But wildlife officials estimate the true number is above 60. Two people have been fatally mauled, one in Montana and one in Wyoming.
With humans and bears seemingly destined to live in closer proximity, experts such as Jonkel are working to train locals in Montana's Blackfoot Valley in co-existence strategies.
Rangers are encouraging locals to try non-lethal "hazing" methods of get rid of bears. They are also organising volunteers to pick apples off the ground for elderly homeowners, before the fruit attracts bears.
Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent, guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/nov/07/grizzly-bear-lifestyle-human-contact
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