Noah’s Task / 119where to fi nd food. Because bears are not herd animals, a feeding
program that drops food in designated areas will not work. Bears
will fi ght with one another for food. Moreover, on rare occasions,
bears can attack people. Colorado has a “two strike” policy for bear
incidents. The DOW traps and relocates bears after a fi rst encounter
with a person, but they relocate a bear only once. They will eutha-
nize the bear if he or she is trapped a second time. Along with these
sound behavioral reasons not to undertake a feeding program for
bears, there are economic and political ones. Bear hunting does take
place in Colorado, but not on the enormous scale of deer hunting.
The DOW describes it as a “niche” market. Thus, feeding bears to
sustain numbers suffi cient for hunting is not an economic neces-
sity for towns in bear country. Moreover, the negative publicity
the DOW might receive from the consequences of its “two strike”
policy would dwarf any positive effects of a feeding program. For
example, during the summer of 2007, wildlife offi cials received
angry telephone calls and critical letters appeared in local news-
papers. When the Aspen Times ran an article on August 11, 2007,
about the record number of bears “dispatched” or “euthanized,” the
paper titled it “The Killing Fields.”
Although we can do little to make the berries and oaks more
plentiful for the bears, towns and counties have attempted to re-
duce bears’ vulnerability to the consequences of human encounters.
Many communities have distributed bear-proof trashcans and in-
formed residents about the need to clean their barbecue grills, keep
pet food inside, and take other measures to keep bears away. Thus,
the answer to the question of what to do for wildlife in disasters de-
pends on the species and the situation. One goal should be to avoid
causing harm to the animals through our well-intended actions.
Animals Used in Research
As for disasters in research labs, I recommend extending federal
protection to all species used as research subjects. In short, the Ani-
mal Welfare Act should be amended to include birds, rats, and mice
bred for research. This measure will encourage compliance with the