For readers of this blog who wonder now and then about the California Grizzly, or grizzly bears in general,
Natural History Magazine has just published a fascinating story about the death of California's second to last golden bear . . . and its sequelae. The author is historian Josh Sides.
A nice but tragic story. But I guess some animals are not really compatible with a 40M California population.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if readers know that the California State Flag was designed by Donald Graeme Kelley, the Editor of the Pacific Discovery Magazine of the California Academy of Sciences. Chris W and I met him several times in our "youth"--which was a long long time ago.
DR
Great stories. As for the Califonia Grizzly that was killed in the Tujunga area. The article states that it may have been an escapee from the Griffith Park Zoo. That zoo did not exist until the WPA, years after the bear was killed. However, the Selig Zoo had the largest collection of wild animals west of the Mississippi at the time. I have seen photos of the Selig Zoo and was amazed at some of the species. It certainly would be possible that the bear somehow escaped from Selig, but I have not seen anything that indicates a bear escaped from the zoo. Great article.
ReplyDeleteMike