Mike Ferguson, owner of the Velvet Elk Ranch near Island Park, Idaho, has answered critics with an editorial in today’s Post Register(subscription). Yesterday, I ran a story about the ridiculousness of some in Idaho accusing elk ranchers for the recent upswing in grizzly bear/human encounters. That article clearly lays out why more grizzly bears are being reported in that state.
For those accusing Ferguson of deliberately or carelessly doing what he can to attract the grizzlies, which I can think of no sane reason why he would want to do this, he says that he is within the laws that regulate his industry but he and his employees will go beyond the required laws in order to deal with this issue.
In the past, I have been very vigilant in making sure the remains were disposed of within the Idaho Department of Agriculture’s required time period of 72 hours. I want all residents of Island Park to know that all of my employees and myself will go above and beyond the regulations that are imposed by our state’s government officials.
I don’t want to see anyone get hurt. I will personally see to it that all remains are disposed of immediately so as to not cause any problems.
Ferguson goes on to explain that the same newspaper that is accusing him of being the cause of increased grizzly activity has also posted several articles that explain the reasons for such – drought, heat, lack of natural food, all of the things I pointed out in detail in my article yesterday. So why now the sudden singling out of him and his ranch?
Ferguson says that the article appearing in the Post on September 18, by Rob Thornberry was in error when it related how far away a grizzly attack on a hunter was from the Velvet Elk Ranch.
Rob Thornberry’s September 18 article was in error when it claimed my elk ranch is located a half-mile from a recent bear mauling; my ranch is more than 3.5 miles from this incident at Big Springs. The claim from an Idaho Fish and Game official that he could smell rotting flesh at the site of the mauling may be correct, but the smell in no way emanated from my domestic elk ranch over three miles away.
Editors of the Post Register back up their claims that the incident was closer than Ferguson says.
Editor’s note: For the location of the bear mauling, the Post Register relied on Fish and Game’s report. The injured hunter also puts the location within a half-mile of Ferguson’s pen.
As I said before, what’s ridiculous about this entire event is that people, in their continued bent on banning elk ranching and ranch hunting, look for any excuse to blame them. Much like Bush derangement syndrome, some in Idaho have Elk ranching derangement syndrome. They are so focused on what they hate they can’t sanely deal with reality.
I’m not a member of the Department of Agriculture nor am I a rancher but I’m willing to wager that most regulations governing the disposal and handling of dead animals and dead animal parts were done without a lot of consideration that grizzly bears would be rampant across the state.
If you will recall an earlier story of an official confirmation of the existence of a grizzly bear in north central Idaho where none have been seen in over 65 years.
Perhaps this is a good time for all ranchers and the Department of Agriculture to sit down and take a look at current disposal rules and see what modifications can be made to help reduce the number of grizzly bear encounters. In the meantime, consideration should also be made to further delist the grizzly bear from protection under the Endangered Species Act in order to help reduce property loss and possible personal injury or death.
Tom Remington
