On Sat, 29 Aug 1998, Deb Beutler wrote:

> (snip) Kelly, wasn't the radio-collard female grizzly shot on the east
> side of the Pend Oreille River?

Yes. I just remembered another grizzly bear killed in the past two or
three years, near Colville, by a young man. I can't remember many of
the details but it was rather unusual in being west of the Pend Oreille
River and, therefore, outside the Selkirks Grizzly Bear Recovery Zone.

> (snip) Another possible explanation is population increase in the cougars
> that is unrelated to lower hunting pressures. The last few winters have
> been relatively mild and that has lead to an increase in the deer population.

Increases in cougar numbers throughout the western United States are largely
inexplicable. In Washington, the increase predates restrictions on the use
of hounds. However, I still believe that the prohibition on hound hunting
has allowed core areas (generally the more remote forested-dominated areas)
to saturate, forcing the less dominant animals to move to marginal habitats...
like suburbia.

> Finally, I think the changes in some of the species we have talked
> about may be evolution, even in its strictest definition. The most common
> definition of evolution is "a change in gene frequency".

Hmm. I must have missed the part of the discussion that recognized changes
in gene frequency. I thought it was mostly a discussion about how humans
are destroying the world. Humans certainly have a role in the evolution
of other life forms, sometimes speeding the process, sometimes slowing it.
Just as subspecies can differentiate into separate species under conditions
of isolation, humans can prevent speciation by creating conditions where
subspecies come into contact and interbreed. I don't agree
that humans speed up the process of evolution. I see human dominance of
the planet as having a homogenizing effect, moving us toward a time when
the world is populated by similar flora and fauna wherever you go. Diversity
declines and evolution has far less raw material to work with.

Kelly McAllister