United States | Call of the wild

How the culture wars came for grizzly bears

Fights over the Endangered Species Act test the frontiers between science and politics

The silhouette of a grizzly bear on a ridge at sunset in Montana.
Photograph: Alamy
|Missoula

THE UNIVERSITY of Montana is used to the idea of grizzly bears. This towering predator is the college mascot, and the campus in Missoula is plastered with grizzly memorabilia. Purple paw prints (lethal claws included) are painted on the pavements. Banners on lampposts tell students to “Rise and roar”. Students can frequent Grizzly Grocery, Grizzly Espresso and—if they are of age—Grizzly Liquor. But recently communities around the university have been confronted with something a bit beyond college spirit: actual grizzly bears.

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This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Call of the wild”

From the December 9th 2023 edition

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