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State plans to shoot bold bears Activists: That�s too extreme, and the problem is people By Mark Freeman GOLD BEACH � State wildlife biologists plan to shoot one or more black bears Wednesday along a stretch of the Wild and Scenic Rogue River canyon area where they have been raiding camp coolers this summer. At least one 250-pound bear, and a few of its understudies, have grown so bold in their raids on campsites along that stretch of the Rogue that these large omnivores now link people with food, the biologists say. The problem has persisted to where the bears now are considered a threat to the rafters, anglers and hikers who camp in the area. "If there�s ever going to be a bear attack, that�s the bear to do it," said Todd Confer, an ODFW biologist in Gold Beach who will be part of the Wednesday expedition to shoot the bears. "It�s unfortunate that we have to go remove these bears," Confer said. "They�re just doing what bears do, once they�ve been habituated to people." The Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, which jointly manage the Wild and Scenic Rogue corridor, have closed the campsites around the bears� area Wednesday and Thursday while Confer and others wait for the problem bears to show themselves. Wildlife activists say they will try to dissuade ODFW leaders from shooting the bears in this remote area about 45 miles east of Gold Beach, and instead want the agency to look harder at going after the root of the problem � humans feeding the bears. "They�re showing that old wildlife-management mentality that, if it gets in the way, blow it away," said Brooks Fahy of the Predator Defense Institute in Eugene. "Instead of dealing with the disease, they�re dealing with the symptom." John Thiebes, a wildlife biologist who heads the ODFW�s Rogue Watershed, said he has no plans to call off Wednesday�s expedition, which will include two ODFW biologists, one Forest Service representative and possibly an Oregon State Police officer. Campers throwing rocks recently were unable to scare one particularly bold bear away from raiding their coolers, Thiebes said, and a few other bears have shown similar but less both behavior. Thiebes acknowledged that the rafters and hikers are to blame for creating the problem, but said these bears are beyond help. "The people who initially let their coolers be raided are responsible for these bears having to be removed for public safety," Thiebes said. "A fed bear is a dead bear, and (people) need to go to extreme measures to keep bears out of their coolers." Fahy, however, said other biologists have had success using dogs and rubber bullets in hazing problem bears and driving them away from humans in places like Glacier and Yellowstone national parks. Fahy said Thiebes is wrong if he thinks the current plan is the last resort, and the agency should instead try to replicate those hazing techniques. The area the biologists will target are the campsites between Brushy Bar and Tacoma, a stretch with many popular campsites during the summer rafting season now in full swing. Confer expects the one ultra-bold bear, which does not have a white patch of fur on its neck common to black bears, to come to their camp in search of food. Whatever bears approach the Confer�s camp and are not readily scared away will be shot, Confer said. If they don�t get their bear Wednesday night, the group likely will stay Thursday night before hiking out, Confer said. Any bears shot will be packed out and the meat salvaged. Sport-hunting for bears is prohibited along most of the lower Rogue, where some river-users for decades have actively fed the bears so tourists could watch them. That practice is now illegal. Confer said it is difficult to catch illegal bear-feeders, but the agencies have stepped up efforts to reduce bear-feeding. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA