Processes That Drive Critical Management Initiatives For Bears Are Becoming More Emotionally Radicalized
Anti-hunting threats are greater for bears than any other North American iconic species. Where ducks, elk, turkey, deer, pheasants and wild sheep are the focus of organizations that have built monetary, political and cultural forces to celebrate those species and ensure their management is based on sound science, bears have no reliable sponsor.
SCI Foundation has the experience and expertise to promote science-based bear management.
But we need your help.
FACT:
Bears nearly disappeared from the North American continent in the early 1900s as market shooting, unregulated trapping and habitat loss created an ecological crisis.
Project Prospectus
SCI is heavily involved in bear-related litigation. This includes recent legal activity related to baiting bears around the GYE, hunting in Alaska, and the delisting proposal. We are also working on black bear cases in New Jersey and Louisiana. We have been a leader in the area for years.
SCIF can have an impact in this area. SCI and SCIF have an established history working with bears in both advocacy and conservation. There are no strong, pro-hunting conservation groups focused on bears, and our previous support for grizzly surveys in British Columbia and elsewhere leaves us well-positioned to be active in bear research.
The goals for the SCIF Bear Strategy include:
- Provide science-based information to support the sustainability of regulated grizzly bear hunting.
- Provide support for state and provincial efforts to mitigate human-bear conflict.
- Public outreach and education.
