Study: As elk numbers decline, grizzlies get more berries

Grizzly bears are reaping the benefits of a better berry crop in Yellowstone National Park, thanks to the role wolves have played in reducing elk numbers, according to a new study by researchers. The study by William Ripple, a professor in the Oregon State University Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society, and OSU professor emeritus Robert Beschta, adds to previous research the two have done following the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone and their related impact on plant life as elk numbers have declined. Ripple said the study, although showing an increase in the use of berries by grizzlies, is not necessarily great news for the top predators in the high-mountain ecosystem. What the study does do is help scientists understand “how the animals interact with the plants and helps us try to discover linkages between the species,” he said in a telephone interview. To form their thesis, Ripple and Beschta analyzed grizzly bear scat gathered by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team taken in July and August for three years before and after wolves were reintroduced into Yellowstone in 1995. From the samples, they found that berry usage by bears climbed on average from .3 percent in July before wolves were reintroduced to 5.9 percent after reintroduction. In August the use of berries climbed from 7.8 percent before wolf reintroduction to 14.6 percent afterward...more

Where is the HSUS when you need them? (Probably busy fund raising)  Making grizzlies eat grouse whortleberry instead of elk roast has got to be animal cruelty.

Leave the enviros in charge and someday the Mighty Grizzly will be called the Berry Bear.

Oh, just in case you were wondering where these professors were coming from, there's this:

The researchers also made a pitch to establish more room for bears outside Yellowstone, advocating for the reduction of livestock grazing in grizzly bear habitat adjacent to the national park, which would also decrease wolf-livestock conflicts.

They want to keep getting $$ to study wolf introduction, so to hell with everybody else.