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Old 06-11-2019, 04:41 AM
  #48  
MudderChuck
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Join Date: Apr 2015
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Some Conservationists, the dreamers, have a vision of apex predators and humans living in harmony. Much like Pit Bull owners who think all Pitbulls react as a breed and not individual dogs and lines.
There are some flaws in their reasoning. The only way it works is if the apex predators fear humans. If not, as soon as they get hungry enough humans are on the menu. And their nature is to hunt, whether they are true hunters or hunters of opportunity.
I know little or nothing about Grizzlies but I can extrapolate general animal behavior to the likely outcomes. Breeding in a genetic propensity to avoid humans can take centuries, if ever. Learned fear of humans is a hit or miss thing and is usually the result of active hunting. If you take away the hunting there is little likelihood of either a genetic fear or a learned fear.
This may seem like a stretch, but in general, many (most) Deer have little fear of automobiles. Cars and truck have been around for over a hundred years and have likely killed more Deer than hunters. Their genetic ability to learn to fear cars and trucks seems low. Learned fear of automobiles is also low. Deer generally fear humans, not all but most, On the flip side we have Hedge Hogs here, used to be you'd see many flattened on the street. Now that is rare and the population, in general, is increasing. Seems in the last 30-40 year they have either acquired a genetic propensity to run away from cars or learned new behavior. Learned behavior seems unlikely, their brain is the size of a BB. Hedge Hogs used to roll in a ball and show their spines when threatened, now the majority flee first then as a last resort roll into a ball and show their spines. The ones that tended to flee first survived automobiles, those that rolled into a ball at the first sign of danger died. For some reason, this process doesn't work nearly as well with Deer.

Applying a little logic and using examples of general animal behavior can indicate an outcome. But doesn't appear to guarantee one.

Point is, legislating an outcome IMO is a pipe dream. Predicting an outcome is a crap shoot at best. And trying to apply human values and politics to wildlife is idiocy.

Last edited by MudderChuck; 06-11-2019 at 10:41 AM.
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