The Ojai Post

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What really needs to happen,is to get bear off the list of food animals.Why are people still eating bear? Or are they really eating them,maybe they are just getting the hide and or stuffing it. At the Ojai cc meeting I told people that we here (Chumash people) only ate bear if we HAD to, bear was a peer.I recieved a call from Roland Takayama today ,I wasn't here to recieve the call. He left a message.This man is following policy, I don't agree with his decision,it's not his policy ,what I do have an issue with is the fact that all they do is make a quick judgment call and think they know the situation.He,Takayama,seems to know that the bear was a danger to people. And he did what he did. It is the laws that we need to change. I understand that there is outrage in S.B. The papers' opinion section has alot of people writting in. They can spread into many counties,we may be able to stop Bear hunting throught California.How great would that be. love to all of you.

So what if people want to eat Bear. I know many people who like it. Your beliefs are different from others. Some people like to eat cows. Should everyone stop eating cows ?

If bear hunting is stopped you will just have more problems with bears in town. Do yourself a favor and start thinking for yourself a little and quit sniffing so much sage.

Yes, everyone should stop eating cows too.

We do not mind so much if humans eat us if they are starving, but truth be told, we love our life as much as you do.

There's too many bears anyway.

There's too many people too.

There are so many inaccuracies and falsehoods stated in the last several comments that rather than respond here, I just hope you all will attend the meeting this Thurs. where you can perhaps learn some very surprising facts. We have all been mislead and misinformed about the whole bear situation in California. Just for starters, our biologist in F & G was held up as an extreme example of how NOT to count the bear population in CA at a large conference of bear biologists. He overestimates the bear population so more hunting licenses can be given out (to pay F&G salaries). We may be more in danger of losing the black bears than anyone realizes. Just like we lost the grizzlies in the 1920's.
Please come to the meeting and get informed.

Hi All,
Wanted to share this good news: My father in-law called this morning to say a great letter he wrote to the Santa Barbara News Press got published about the bear (he is a recovered hunter). He said that there were other letters about the bear in the "Opinions" section, including a very strong Opinion from a News Press writer shaming DFG...

Talk about inaccuracies and falsehoods

Posted by: Sufi

"our biologist in F & G was held up as an extreme example of how NOT to count the bear population in CA at a large conference of bear biologists. He overestimates the bear population so more hunting licenses can be given out (to pay F&G salaries). We may be more in danger of losing the black bears than anyone realizes. Just like we lost the grizzlies in the 1920's."

That is totally ridiculous. You people don't have any idea what the under funded DFG does to protect wildlife. Bear populations are on a steady increase and have been for some years. DFG is not worried about he individual stray they use sound biology to manage the species as a whole.

Take a look at this graph
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/hunting/bear/docs/BearPopulationEstimates1982-2006.pdf

If you have spent a considerable time in the backcountry you would see that bears are thick behind ojai.

There is absoulutely no danger of bears going extinct in California.

Ridgewater, I just received the following item that may be of interest to you. This is a unedited copy.

fish and game under the district manager in mammoth destroyed 5 bears this year--even though they were presented with alternatives at no cost to them--they killed a mother bear and 2 nursing cubs.

it is my understanding that the bear rescue from tahoe offered to help--

there was another bear known as blondie that a bear habit in colorado agreed to take--now bear in mind that the district ranger in tahoe had sent 2 bears there with that bear rescue help--june lake has killed 7 so far this year--

there is a bear rescue in mammoth that is fighting with the city---bear-with-us --this is happening all over the state some districts work with the bear rescues and some do not--

this seems to be subjective--when some fish and game say that they aren't in the business of rescuing bears and yet the in the condor program--fish and game brings dead meat to the condors as they do not hunt for themselves--this is the research side--which is why BOTH sides need to be involved--the enforcement I think is there more for the paycheck--that is why tony strickland's and pedro nava's office is so important in all of this--

there needs to be a comprehensive program and the community needs to be involved--this problem is state wide--we've all seen the bears in the swimming pools etc--and they don't die--bring up to the nava and strickland's office about the no net causing undue suffering.

Please also see the Press Release from Pedro Nava.

Thank you for your consideration.

I checked out the graph you posted above. Do not understand why you think this justifies killing bears.

I was mostly responding to Sufi when he/she stated that we may lose the black bear in california as we lost the grizzly bear. That is totally unfounded.

I don't have a problem with Fish and Game ( who by the way has their budget cut every year ) managing bear populations through licsensed hunting.

Thank you, Ridgewater, for your clarification on where you stand.

Would you happen to know if the hunters and their children actually eat the bear, and what else they do with the body?

just chiming in re: hunters...the strict code followed by the hunter (a conservationist by the way) I sleep next to says that the animal killed is absolutely consumed. we don't have children (not sure of the relevance there), but when wild game is cooked in our home, I defer to personal taste when deciding what I will eat (venison and elk taste very different to me and I do prefer one over the other). he has never shot a bear, but he came very close to doing so when he was charged by a black bear - the shot missed but scared the bear off, so everyone was happy that day.

Thanks, Lisa.

I mentioned "children" because at the last City Council meeting DFG stated that a tranquilized bear could not be released into the wild during hunting season because the hunter and his children might eat the tainted meat...(I'm paraphrasing but "children" were mentioned.)