Wild in Nature

A hunter was killed by a grizzly while gutting an elk in the Blackfoot-Clearwater Wildlife Management Area in Montana (Nov. 2). The reaction is to close the area until the bear can be hunted down and killed (“Bears Tied to Mauling Are Killed,” Nov. 3). While the episode is sad for the hunter and his family, the female bear [and cubs] were acting naturally in their natural habitat. Is that not what wildlife management areas are designed to allow--wildlife protection? People who enter those areas must accept the risk it entails and, in my opinion, hunting in these areas should not be allowed.

If our wildlife cannot roam freely and safely in national parks or wildlife refuges, what are we to do with them? The killing of animals in a wildlife management area implies that animals are managed by killing them. Perhaps we would be better off managing the people who enter those areas.

Marlene Maloney

San Pedro