K IL. Kerry Gunther was running out of. A grizzly is attacking hikers in Yellowstone National BEFORE IT KILLS AGAIN?

Transcription

1 SPECIAL FEATURE PAIRED TEXTS Stories that share a theme or topic. A HUNTING K IL L A grizzly is attacking hikers in Yellowstone National Park. Can RANGERS FIND IT BEFORE IT KILLS AGAIN? AS YOU READ, THINK ABOUT: What challenges do we face in sharing the planet with wild animals? Kerry Gunther was running out of time. It was August 26, 2011, and he and four park rangers were investigating a crime scene in Yellowstone National Park. A dead body had been found on one of the trails. But the sun was starting to set, and if they James Balog/Getty Images 4 Scholastic Scope SEPTEMBER 3, 2012

2 Paired Texts ER didn t make it back to their helicopter before dark, they would be left behind in the remote wilderness, alone. Well... not entirely alone. Somewhere in the shadows lurked one of the most terrifying animals on Earth: a grizzly bear. TURN THE PAGE to read more. SEPTEMBER 3,

3 Gunther is a bear biologist. It s his job to protect the grizzly bears that make their home in Yellowstone, a vast wilderness that stretches across parts of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. Most days, he spends his time Grizzly bears were an icon of the American West. In the early days of Yellowstone, studying bear behavior park rangers lured bears into the open by dumping heaps of and habitats. trash. Thousands of people This day was would gather at these sites to get a glimpse of the different. Earlier, a pair great grizzly. of hikers had come across a finally found the body the hikers had reported seeing. horrifying sight on the Mary Mountain Trail: the partially eaten body of a man. The report was alarming. In July, a hiker had been killed by a grizzly just eight miles from the Mary Mountain Trail. Could this be another fatal grizzly encounter? And if so, was the same bear responsible? Gunther and a team of park rangers loaded their gear into a helicopter and set out to investigate. It was a terrible and gruesome scene: The partially eaten corpse was half-buried. Nearby were bloody paw prints and piles of grizzly scat, or poop. Under the fading light, the team scrambled to gather clues. Like detectives at a crime scene, they snapped photos, collected hair and saliva samples, and measured paw prints. Meanwhile, one ranger stood guard, scanning the area for movement. They all knew that the grizzly could return at any moment to finish its meal. The Scene of the Crime Grizzly bears are some of the most fearsome creatures on the planet. These powerful beasts can Fortunately, the team made it safely to the chopper, just as the sun disappeared. The investigation was only beginning. weigh more than 600 pounds. Their teeth are made for piercing flesh, their four-inch claws for digging up plants. Standing on their hind legs, full-grown grizzlies can tower more than 10 feet. They have been known to peel off a person s face with a single swipe of a paw. And despite their size, grizzlies can run faster Bear Justice When a grizzly commits a crime in the U.S., a thorough investigation is conducted to determine whether the bear is guilty or innocent. Generally, a bear that kills and eats its victim is found than horses. Luckily for us, they prefer to avoid people. Until the summer of 2011, there hadn t been Over time, trash-fed bears lost their fear of guilty. A bear that hurts someone out of a grizzly-related death in Yellowstone in more than 25 years. Grizzly attacks are humans. Some came to rely on people for food. They wandered into campgrounds exceptionally rare. and loitered on roads. Many were hit So what had happened that August day on by cars. the Mary Mountain Trail? After an hour of searching, Gunther and his team National Park Service (TRASH); All Canada Photos/Getty Images (TRAFFIC) 6 Scholastic Scope SEPTEMBER 3, 2012

4 fear or the need to defend its cubs is found innocent. It might sound strange to think that we could hold The Investigation Heats Up When Gunther returned to headquarters on the wild animals responsible for their behavior. Yet this justice system was created to protect bears. Tens of thousands of grizzlies once roamed the country. They were a prized symbol of the West, both admired and feared. But at the same time, they were being shot, poisoned, and trapped into near-extinction. Over the past 100 years, as humans have built more towns and highways, bear habitats have shrunk to 2 percent of the size they once were. Now fewer than 1,300 grizzlies are left in night of August 26, the investigation launched into full force. There were still many questions to answer. Was the Wapiti sow responsible for killing a second person? Had she killed the hiker in order to eat him? Or had the hiker died from something else, and the bear merely helped herself to the body? As the days went by, evidence mounted. An autopsy showed that the hiker had indeed died from bear-inflicted wounds. Using a tool called DNA fingerprinting on the bear the United States and only 600 in the Yellowstone area. Today, feeding bears is against the scat, experts were able to prove that the Wapiti sow law, and most grizzlies Just a few decades ago, any and her cubs had been at the have returned to the wild. But bear that harmed or threatened a as visitors flood Yellowstone scene of the crime. person or destroyed property would be in record numbers, some worry It was time to bring them in. that the last wild places will hunted down and killed. cease to be wild. What will Today, bear justice is more forgiving. happen to grizzlies The Verdict For example, the grizzly that had killed a hiker in July was found innocent. The bear, then? At the end of September, the Wapiti sow was leading her cubs along the Yellowstone called the Wapiti sow, appeared to have been River when she caught the scent of something defending her two cubs. So officials let her go free. too good to resist: meat. She followed the smell Greg Winston/Getty Images (bear); Bettmann/Corbis (Frost); Fotolia (bird) POETRY CONNECTION As humans, we care deeply about the welfare of grizzlies. Yet, we want to visit places like Yellowstone without being threatened by them. These mixed feelings remind us of this poem by Robert Frost. What is the speaker s attitude toward the bird? Listen to our dramatic reading at Scope Online! A Minor Bird By Robert Frost I have wished a bird would fly away, And not sing by my house all day; Have clapped my hands at him from the door When it seemed as if I could bear no more. The fault must partly have been in me. The bird was not to blame for his key. And of course there must be something wrong In wanting to silence any song. SEPTEMBER 3,

5 into a 10-foot-long aluminum tunnel, where she discovered a bison carcass. Suddenly, a trapdoor snapped shut behind her. The cubs, meanwhile, sat outside the tunnel, crying for their mother. After weeks of eluding rangers, the Wapiti sow had finally been caught. The rangers took the sow and her cubs to a The grizzly is the state laboratory for tests. On October 1, hair animal of and blood samples from the bears were California. matched to both the July and August Yet not a single grizzly crime scenes. Verdict? Guilty. remains in the What followed was the worst part of state that was once home to Gunther s job. The sow was put into a thousands. deep sleep. Then, with a heavy heart, Gunther put her down. It was a painless death. The sow s cubs were sent to the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone, Montana, where they will spend the rest of their lives in captivity safe, but not free. Justice had been done. Or had it? A Tough Call For the bear experts in Yellowstone, killing a grizzly is a terrible task. But sometimes those who dedicate their lives to protecting grizzlies must also destroy them. The bear justice system is founded on the idea that a human-eating bear will develop a taste for people and kill again. No scientific data exists to support that idea, but Yellowstone s bear managers can t risk more people getting hurt. In a strange way, by killing the Wapiti sow, Gunther may have actually saved other bears. If word gets out that a human-eating grizzly is on the loose, frightened people may be more likely to kill any grizzly they see even a bear that poses no threat. It was a tough call, though. Only about 250 of the grizzlies in Yellowstone are females. If the grizzly population is going to continue to grow, those females need to have long lives so they can give birth to as many cubs as possible. Though he knows it isn t popular with everyone, Gunther stands by his decision. Do you? The Wapiti sow and her two cubs before the tragic events of Gallo Images/Getty Images (flags); Jim Urquhart/Reuters (bears) 8 Scholastic Scope SEPTEMBER 3, 2012

6 NEWSPAPER ARTICLE Indians Feed the Monkeys, Which Bite the Hand Monkeys are taking over Delhi, and no one can stop them By Gardiner Harris DELHI, INDIA The first interloper stepped in front of her on the sidewalk and held up his hand. The second appeared behind her and beckoned for her bag. Maeve O Connor was trapped. Resistance would have been dangerous, so she handed over her bag. The two thieves sauntered away arrogantly. The encounter lasted no more than 15 seconds just one more mugging by rhesus monkeys in a city plagued by them. For years, city growth has encroached on the monkeys original habitat. Now, the monkey population has grown so large and contest aggressive that city officials are overwhelmed. We have trapped 13,013 monkeys since 2007, said R. B. S. Tyagi, director of veterinary services for Delhi s city government. Nonetheless, Delhi s monkey population has only increased. The reason is simple: People feed them. Monkeys represent a Hindu god named Hanuman. Hindu religious tradition calls for feeding monkeys on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Dr. Tyagi has asked the city s wildlife agency for help, but wildlife officials claim that the monkeys are no longer wild and are thus not their responsibility. Stories abound of monkeys entering homes, stealing clothes, and biting those who surprise them. They treat buildings as playgrounds, ride buses and trains, and chase diplomats from their welltended gardens. In 2007, a deputy mayor died when he fell from his terrace after being attacked by monkeys, a widely publicized episode that spurred the city to step up its efforts to move monkeys to safer environments. Yet attacks continue. Years of trapping, using cages baited with fruit and nuts, have taught the monkeys to avoid traps. Himachal Pradesh, a northern Indian state, issued permits to kill monkeys that destroyed crops, but the practice incited protests and is not being considered in Delhi. Adapted From The New York Times, May 23, 2012 issue. Copyright 2012 by The New York Times Company. All rights reserved. Used by permission and protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States. The printing, copying, redistribution, retransmission of this Content without express written permission is prohibited. Luke Duggleby/Redux Get this activity Online SEPTEMBER 3,