Culture and Coexistence into the Great Unknown
The paths of grizzly bears and humans often collide, with fatal consequences for both parties. Despite protected lands such as national parks, the former’s survival depends upon establishing roaming corridors across private land and highways. The Vital Ground Foundation is doing just that.
After centuries of fear and superstition, research has given the wolf a new image as a social creature with an indispensible role in ecosystems. Unfortunately, wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains have been removed from the endangered species list. The Druid Pack of Yellowstone National Park symbolizes the rise and fall of this much maligned predator.
The Enbridge Inc. Northern Gateway Pipelines project threatened British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest, home to thousands of species of plants and animals and the Kermode white spirit bear, enabling the destructive Alberta oil sands mining project. The project is dead, but tar sands are still being mined, shipped and burned, destroying ecosystems and the climate.
Assemblywoman D. Harkey (73rd District-California), accomplished equestrian and beach lover, informed her constituents she could not support Assembly Bill 376 banning shark fin soup from CA restaurants, a “delicacy” that requires amputation of the fin from a live shark at sea, leaving it helpless to drown.
The bison slaughter is proposed to appease the intractable and unreasonable demands of Montana’s livestock industry to zero tolerance for native bison on Montana soil. All of this is justified in the name of controlling brucellosis, a disease that can cause domestic livestock to abort their first calf.
It’s the widest-ranging native land animal in the Americas, yet is declining throughout much of its range. Wilderutopia carries an interview with big cat expert Dr. Howard Quigley about the status and research implications of the elusive, enigmatic, and unique cougar.
Fifteen years have passed since wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park and the results are in. The controversial experiment has been a stellar success. Essay by Chip Ward.