Experiment just about dollars
Vancouver Province
Sunday, May 29, 2005
It's a very sad fact that people will try to justify an experiment that only had dollar signs as an end result.
If freely roaming bears and wolves do not socialize in the wild then why, in their infinite wisdom, did Grouse Mountain staff think penning these animals together would work out just fine?
Kathrine Wallace, Vancouver
Sunday, May 29, 2005
Anyone knowledgeable about wild animals should have realized from the beginning that grizzly bears do not belong on Grouse Mountain.
There are no grizzly bears in the Lower Mainland because this is not their natural habitat.
So-called scientific studies that claim grizzlies and wolves can live together do not take into account that, if they do co-exist in nature, they range over thousands of hectares -- not the two hectares of the Grouse Mountain enclosure.
The "in your face" environment at the Grouse Mountain zoo, masquerading as a wildlife refuge, almost guaranteed a confrontation between the two species.
The wolf's natural instincts would have been dulled by his constant interaction with humans, both on the mountain and on the movie set.
In the wild, he would never have gone near, let alone challenged, a grizzly for its food.
This is a misguided experiment gone tragically wrong.
Wildlife refuges are generally much larger and minimize human contact.
Grouse Mountain is not such a place. It's time to shut it down.
Heather Lapierre, North Vancouver