Feeding the Bears
Urban Farming Agriculturalist
Food Chain Radio Host Michael Olson
#930 • August 3, 2013 • Sat 9AM Pacific
Guest: Lynn Rogers, PhD, Wildlife Research Institute
Feeding the Bears!
Should Mr. Rogers stop feeding the bears?
Lynn Rogers is making Ely, Minnesota by feeding its bears, and people travel from far and wide, and pay good money, to watch.
Rogers and his Wildlife Research Institute feed bears in order to better study their behavior. As people move farther into the country, there is more interaction between bears and people. Rogers asserts by studying bears behavior, people can learn how to better get along with them.
To help desseminate its research, the Wildlife Research Institute features live “den cams” that make it possible for viewers everywhere to watch bears in hibernation. The Institute also sells bear research tours so visitors can watch bears being fed in the wild.
This feeding of the bears has focused attention on the tiny town of Ely, Minnesota, prompting the town’s mayor to tell a Wall Street Journal reporter, “Ely was already on the map, but this was huge for us!”
However, not everyone is so supportive. “Stop feeding the bears!” says Minnesota’s Department of Natural Resources. DNR suggests that feeding bears changes their behavior, and counts at least 50 bears in the neighborhood that have lost their fear of humans.
To back up its demand, DNR did not renew Mr. Rogers research permit, thus precipitating a legal wrangle that has been won, temporarily, by Mr. Rogers and his fellow bear enthusiasts.
This legal tug of war between the Wildlife Research Institute and the Department of Natural Resources leads us to ask…
