Cura Mundus

By Lily McMenemy

Welcome to Cura Mundus, the weekly conservation column where we highlight ways to “care for the world”! This week’s species is the Grizzly bear, Ursus arctos horribilis (happy Fat Bear Week!). 

This week in my Conservation Behavior class, the plight of bears within America has been at the center of conversation. We explored the frequency and impact of bear traffic jams, and the experienced Dr. Sue Margulis shared a documentary called “Bear71”. This interactive film is accessible online, and I strongly recommend that you go experience this artistic rendering of a bear’s world amongst people. It impacted me deeply, and immediately after, I bought a fleece with a bear on it and also swore off hashbrowns. 

Bears are not endangered, but endangerment does not always paint a whole picture of an animal’s experience. Bears and humans have a difficult, thorny relationship full of prejudice and defensiveness. Bears are simply trying to live in an environment that doesn’t exist for them any more, and humans react badly when they adapt to that. Adaptation previously has been the exact thing keeping these bears alive to this point, but when bears adapt to get food from trash cans or enter suburban areas, because their foods and habitats aren’t available, we persecute them. 

While the species may not be threatened, the existence of a bear is toilsome when trying to navigate the sights, sounds and infrastructure people have forced into their homes. So the next time you go camping, take care of your trash, lock up your coolers and don’t cook hashbrowns that stop bears from smelling their own food. This world is ours to share, even with the grizzly bear.

If you would like to contribute to Cura Mundus, please email me at mcmeneml@my.canisius.edu.