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Comment by AlbertCory | Hacker News Reader

I've been up REAL close to grizzlies, on Kodiak Island [1]. However, that has a population of 13,000 [2], whereas Vancouver has 840,000, according to that article.

That means on Kodiak, the bears have the land mostly to themselves, and humans aren't much of a threat to them. You wouldn't try this in Yellowstone, where fatal bear-human encounters happen regularly. And probably will on Vancouver, too.

[1] https://albertcory50.substack.com/p/travel-disasters

[2] https://usafacts.org/data/topics/people-society/population-a...

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It’s important to distinguish “Vancouver” (a city on the mainland) and “Vancouver Island” (an island off the coast).

Vancouver Island has a population nearing a million, but half of it live in the greater Victoria area, which occupies a tiny little peninsula and change on the southern tip. Most of the island - which is huge, approximately four times the size of Kodiak Island, for what it’s worth - is pretty wild and untamed.

I'm sure, but the question is, do the populations intersect? Looking at the map, I see three Provincial Parks up in the north, plus towns and roads. That will mean vacationers will encounter them.

Whereas on Kodiak, there is nothing on one side of the island.

I think it's time that we start to make room once again for the animals we almost drove to extinction. This would be a good, controlled setting to see if we can do this responsibly.

How is Vancouver "controlled"? The grizzlies can obviously swim back to the mainland if they don't like it.

> we almost drove to extinction

In the Lower 48, yes. Not in Canada and Alaska.

Some of them can, if they are in good physical condition. There's a reason why there haven't been any females who swam across until now.

For good reason. Brown bears eat people. You are no more than a slow meal to them. Coexistence means accepting that people will be eaten by bears or bears will be killed by people defending themselves. I think it is worth noting that native tribes prepared for war if the needed to kill a brown bear.

> Attacks on humans, though widely reported, are generally rare.

Brown bears prefer salmon to geezers who talk big, for certain.

Says somebody that has never lived where brown bears do. They can and will gladly eat you if you are the best meal around. Salmon are only around for maybe 1/4 of the year.

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