Less than a month after a grizzly bear was shot and killed in Denali National Park, Glacier National Park has revised their Bear Management Plan and Bear Management Guidelines.
In attempt to create stronger preventative measures and better educate the public regarding bear/human contact, park officials hope that the changes result in fewer bears that must be euthanized.
Some of the revisions are a direct response to an incident that happened last fall, which ended with the death of a grizzly sow and her cub. The sow, who had become too comfortable with humans, became a danger to the public. In attempt to the tranquilize her, park rangers accidentally hit her cub, killing it.
“Unfortunately, this entire family group of grizzly bears had become overly familiar with humans,” Superintendent Chas Cartwright had said following the incident. “Park resource personnel worked to keep this bear and her offspring in the wild for five years, but…[they] posed an unacceptable threat to human health and safety; and therefore, needed to be removed from the park.”
The revisions to the park’s Bear Management Plan and Bear Management Guidelines include framework to handle the large black and grizzly bear population in the region when it comes to bear/human interaction. Objectives in the revised plan include the enforcement of proper food storage and waste removal, “bearproofing” all garbage containers, and providing visitors with a wealth of information regarding the bear population, among others.
But in order to make sure that the plan works, the guidelines must be enforced. With several topics and even appendices, the guidelines include language that addresses a number of regulations—from the photography and filming of bears, to schedules for garbage removal, and even management procedure for relocating bears.
Hopefully the new plan and guidelines prove to be effective.
To check out the complete text of the Bear Management Plan and Bear Management Guidelines, click here.
[Via: National Parks Traveler]
[Photo via: Arthur Chapman]
