Posted on 03/08/2022 11:47:19 AM PST by SJackson
If you are fed up of a mundane desk job, aren’t bothered by austere conditions and have an affection for the hirsute, a potentially ideal new role has opened up in Montana: a grizzly bear conflict manager.
For a salary between $79,363 and $103,176, the US government is offering one lucky applicant the chance to spend time in the Montana wilderness, dealing with discord within the world of grizzly bears.
The disputes aren’t between ursine combatants themselves – although territorial quarrels do occur – but in the friction between bears and humans. While grizzly attacks on people are exceptionally rare, farmers can become agitated if a bear preys on livestock, while residents have raised concerns over bears tearing their way into their garbage, seeking tasty morsels.
The job, listed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, involves managing a team of two to four, with tasks including “trapping, chemical immobilization, monitoring, conflict prevention and relocation efforts”.
The role can be based within 100 miles of Missoula, Bozeman or Kalispell in Montana, though the advert makes clear the successful applicant will not be spending much time in the “adequately lighted, heated and ventilated office” pondering the hefty delights of grizzly bears.
There is a “substantial” amount of field work, involving walking in wet, rocky and otherwise harsh terrain, sometimes requiring the use of boats, small aircraft and all-terrain vehicles.
“Extended periods of camping in tents or cabins in remote field camps may occur,” the advert states, adding that a “variety of temperature and weather extremes may be encountered while in the field”.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Outdoors/Rural/wildlife/hunting/hiking/backpacking/National Parks/animals list please FR mail me to be on or off . And ping me is you see articles of interest.
Of interest?
Kill the humans. That will solve the problem.
I’ll take the job.
Here’s my advice to humans: “Do not interact with grizzly bears”.
Send me my money.
If I was half a century younger I’d apply.
Easy job...............
“You will go about issuing citations in vast quantities for petty violations of obscure federal regulations and generally being a nuisance for rural residents and persons engaged in outdoor recreation.”
Will they be wearing bells around their necks?
“US government is offering one lucky applicant the chance to spend time in the Montana wilderness, dealing with discord within the world of grizzly bears”
Getting to camp in a tent, see wild life, free exercise, food and get paid too, I wonder why the last grizzly bear manager, ah, went away?
Growing up in Montana it was a summer ritual to read at least one story in the Billings Gazette about some idiot being gored/kill by getting way too close to or, believe it or not, actually trying to pet a buffalo.
In my college years I had a summer internship where I had to occasionally feed hay bales to a small buffalo herd. The corral was built of stout steel posts and 4x6” beams like it was for holding a tyrannosaurus rex. A buffalo is to a cattle bull what a wolf is to a terrier.
In other words risking becoming bear poop on a daily basis. 😏
Tell the grizzlies not to interact with humans. A much tougher job.
On their ankles. And armed with pepper spray.
This has, on rare occasion, led to attacks on people, leading to calls from Republican legislators in Montana for the ban on hunting grizzlies to be lifted. The federal government has resisted such pressure, instead focusing on efforts to reduce conflict by encouraging better garbage storage, improved fencing around livestock and warning campers to not sleep with food in their tents.
The job, listed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, involves managing a team of two to four, with tasks including “trapping, chemical immobilization, monitoring, conflict prevention and relocation efforts”.
—
Didn’t work out to well for the bear whisperer.
Will the applicant be “trapping, chemical immobilization, monitoring, conflict prevention and relocation efforts” humans or bears - is unclear.
How exactly will success in this job be measured?
Me: *crumbles up application*
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