Farm Bureau Talks Grizzlies Pt 2

I'm Bob Larson. Relocating Grizzly Bears to the North Cascades is a bad idea. That's the word from the Washington Farm Bureau in a message last week to the National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife.

The Farm Bureau's Tom Davis says there are too many potential dangers ...

TOM DAVIS ... "We're very concerned about the Grizzly Bears getting into our orchards. It's a known fact that tree fruit are an attractant for Grizzly Bears. We're also very concerned about our livestock operators, not only that graze on their own ground, but that have forest service grazing allotments. Will they lose those allotments as the forest service looks to better protect the Grizzly Bear?"

Davis says translocating Grizzly Bears is against state law, but doesn't address the bigger question, 'if it were meant to be, why aren't they here already?' ...

TOM DAVIS ... "And it's curious to me that there's a sizeable population just north of the border that could have migrated down into Washington, but did not. Unlike the wolves who naturally migrated here from both B.C. and Idaho, as they came into the state there was habitat. So, there may be more of an issue here. Maybe there simply isn't the habitat to sustain these Grizzly Bears who could of come in here over the last two decades, but did not."

Davis says ranchers and farmers already have enough to worry about with cougars, wolves and coyotes. Throwing another apex predator into the mix doesn't make sense.