Yosemite Bears

[Michael Gunderloy]

Yosemite rangers try to keep hungry bears at bay by using GPS tracking collars

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/yosemite-rangers-try-to-keep-hungry-bears-at-bay-by-using-gps-tracking-collars/2014/10/25/936ccac2-5ca3-11e4-b812-38518ae74c67_story.html

I wonder what the end game is here…planning hikes to just stay away from where the bears are today? AP story is close to content-free though.

(Edited to add link. No idea why I can't enter a proper a tag on this.)

[Bob Gross]

Mike, your inquiry is not clear.

The wildlife authorities in Yosemite are able to identify specific bears so that they can tell if it is only one troublemaker or whether there are many. Nevertheless, this has no impact on backpackers.

About 15 years ago before bear canisters were mandatory, there were a good dozen locations in Yosemite where backpackers would frequent. Due to inadequate food storage at the time, that is where the bears went. Now that bear canisters have been required for years, it doesn't seem like bears show up in those standard locations as much.

–B.G.–

[Kattt]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/yosemite-rangers-try-to-keep-hungry-bears-at-bay-by-using-gps-tracking-collars/2014/10/25/936ccac2-5ca3-11e4-b812-38518ae74c67_story.html

I have very mixed feelings about the collaring/tracking of wildlife.
Often the projects start as research, proposing to collar a certain number of animals and get the most data out of said animals. Next the projects tens to become self serving and the chase with dogs treeing the animal and shooting the tranquilizers becomes a high adrenaline endevour that is hard to resist. Often what follows is the attempt to collar as many as possible and more funds are put into that then making the most out of the ones that are already being tracked.
Research is also starting to show up how the cumbersome collars are changing mating behavior in females .
I would support the research if there were guidelines as to many animals can be collared and how the public will benefit from the research. I would prohibit the use of dogs .

[Greg Mihalik]

From Yosemite Conservancy –

"Past projects funded by the Conservancy expanded Yosemite’s bear-monitoring system to alert wildlife managers when collared bears enter developed areas.

"The new collars would not only provide these alerts, but would include technology to track bears’ movements once they have left these areas.

"Real-time monitoring and mapping of bear movements will provide currently unknown information about how bears are using the majority of the park’s wild habitat."

So, it's not new, and the focus is on out-of-valley habitat use. If it also helps the rangers in the valley head off a problem bear before it gets tagged it's a win-win.

I'm confident someone will stop the process before the dogs are brought in.

[Author]

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