Bring grizzlies to L.A., Yellowstone... (video)

Teri Mei, Xochitl, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly; Lynn Hamilton (thepetitionsite.com); KCET

Momma, we're hungry. Will you keep us safe so we can thrive? - I'll try.

(Wild L.A./KCET.org) Los Angeles had grizzlies, but now we have none in all of California

Bring grizzlies back to L.A.

Todd Woody (takepart.com) edited by Wisdom Quarterly

Grizzly (Universal Ed./Getty Images)

When California insurgents revolted against Mexican rule on June 14, 1846, they raised a rebel banner emblazoned with the fierce and majestic grizzly.

This was the declaration of the founding of the Bear Flag Republic. Within 80 years, however, the grizzly -- that for millennia roamed from the beaches of Los Angeles to the mountains of the Sierra Nevada -- would be extinct.

You hear cars coming? - No - Where's mom?

The last bear to be hunted was shot in 1922 ["Wild LA" says 1908], and two years later came the final sighting of a grizzly in California. Today the bear is seen only on the state flag.

 

Now an environmental group wants to restore America’s top predator to its namesake state by reintroducing the bear to California as well as to Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. More

Still endangered in Yellowstone

A waterfall in the wilds of Yellowstone National Park where grizzlies are returning (YNP).

Where the buffalo roam (bison) is a wild park named Yellowstone (treakamerica.co.uk)

 
Grizzly bears in Yellowstone National Park have made a modest recovery since they were placed on the Endangered Species List in 1975. Where there were only 136 grizzlies in the 1970s, there are now 750 living in Yellowstone today.

 

The grizzly (left) is a totem keystone species.

With a vulnerable population still less than a 1,000 strong, the federal government is moving to take the Yellowstone grizzly off the list. This would make the bear a target for trophy hunters.

Food shortages have made the grizzly's struggle for survival an epic battle. Overfishing has depleted trout that make up a big part of the bear's diet. Climate changes have caused a steep decline in wild berries -- another vital grizzly food.

Every time a hungry, desperate bear attacks a hiker, the bear is murdered ("euthanized") in retaliation.

Open season on grizzlies will drive them back to the brink of extinction. Sacred in Sioux mythology, tribe members are strongly opposed to its delisting. 

Killing a grizzly is tantamount to sacrilege in Sioux belief. Join in demanding that the bear remain ON the endangered species list. More

• Mapping Native American Los Angeles (UCLA)
• Ethnobiology.org: What the Natives of California ate
• Collections at the Fowler at UCLA