The Historic Grizzly

[brotherbear]

Continued...
The predator problem was approached with the same zeal. The grizzly bear, because it was big and ferocious when provoked, was considered a threat to the livelihood and personal safety of every man, woman, and child, and consequently deemed evil. The grizzly bear had to go. Infrequent bear attacks on humans were headlined in newspapers, along with atrocious stories of bears killing scores of cattle and sheep. With the taming of the Indian, it didn't take much prodding for the predominantly farming and ranching populace to adopt a policy of eradication toward the grizzly. 

The near-extermination of an estimated 100 million buffalo in the West in little more than two decades by market hunters is well documented. Actually, it was relatively simple, due mostly to the herding nature of these dim-witted beasts the habit of which was restricted to open grasslands. The big predators such as the mountain lion, gray wolf, and the grizzly were a different matter. The lion by nature is a secretive animal and seldom seen, even when plentiful. The wolf proved cunning and quickly learned to stay out of sight during daylight hours. And the great bear was difficult to find because it lived mostly in dense cover and rugged mountains, and it possessed none of the dim-wittedness of the buffalo. Reply