Bentz tackles grizzly bears
By Terry Murry on Tuesday, June 18th, 2024 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Oregon Congressman Cliff Bentz (R-Ontario) is known for his stand on wolves and the damage they do to livestock and other wild game. He is now also taking on the fight against a plan to introduce grizzly bears to Washington’s Cascade Mountains.
The chairman of the Water, Wildlife, and Fisheries Subcommittee of the House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources said his question of how many wolves are enough can also be applied to how many grizzly bears are enough.
“The initial thought was to have grizzly bears in Yellowstone – about 2,000 of them,” he said. “We currently have 8,000 grizzly bears. So you want to say to yourself, ‘Now what do we do?’ Do you want grizzly bears in New York City? Do you want them up in Seattle?
Bentz said he has trouble understanding what the goal is with reintroducing the bears to Washington state just as he has problems with the failure to remove wolves from the endangered species list. “The question is, where are we going with this,” he said.
“My short answer is I think we have enough grizzly bears and we don’t need them in other places. It’s just like the wolves.
Photo by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
