Kodiak catastrophe

“Ostrom, why didn’t you remember such a wild and crazy story?”

By G. George Ostrom

If I hadn’t read “the story” in Chris Walterskirchen’s “Flashback” column this week, I probably wouldn’t have believed it. Then I ask myself, “Ostrom, why didn’t you remember such a wild and crazy story?”

Fifty years ago George was in the news business and nothing as big as “the story” should have gotten by him … unless it was because he was moonstruck, giddy, out of his head, in love with the beautiful Iris Wilhelm of Whitefish.

So what was “the story” missed so long ago by the current “oldest-living reporter”?

All the following facts were taken verbatim from Chris’ column in last Monday’s Daily Missoulian:

50 YEARS AGO

“It was so crowded in Missoula’s Silver Dollar Bar it was ‘unbearable,’ especially if you were a bear.

“The Occasion was a rare Kodiak bear ham feast. Well more than 200 people stopped by the popular to eat a ham from Kodiak bear cubs that had to be destroyed by the Montana Fish and Game Wardens. Seems that Fish and Game officials had wanted to try to supplement Montana’s bear population with the Alaskan bear cubs.

“A year earlier, more than a dozen bear cubs were transported to Montana from the Alaska Territory. The Kodiak bears were placed in the Bitterroot Wilderness and in the North Fork and South Fork wilderness areas near the Flathead River. What the Montana Fish and Game officials had not counted on was how quickly the bear cubs would mature and grow. The cubs soon became a threat to other animals and to people. The decision was finally made to track down as many of the bears as possible and have them destroyed. Fish and Game officials reported that no Kodiak bear-people interaction turned deadly, but they felt that it was just a matter of time.

“The bear ham proved popular, along with baked beans and corn bread provided by Silver Dollar owner Eddie Martello.

Chris had some follow-up info: “Sadly for patrons of the Silver Dollar Bar there haven’t been any free bear ham feasts there or anywhere else for a while. Fish Wildlife and Parks officials in 2007 acknowledged that they do still introduce new species of animals, mostly fish, in Montana but they are very selective about what species they will try. By the way, for the past quarter century the meat from most game animals that need to be destroyed by FWP is donated to organizations such as the Montana Food Bank Network or shelters for homeless.”

There it is, “the story.” You’ve read it and if you’re like me you still can’t believe it. Importing “over a dozen Alaskan grizzly bear cubs and turning them loose in the local woods?

In an incident last week, a moose was hit on Highway 93 by the Stillwater Bar and the unbelievable volunteers from the Whitefish Food Bank went out there in the freezing cold and saved the meat.

Over in Helena the Legislature is dealing with major issues affecting our lives. Democrat Senator Don Ryan from Great Falls has introduced a bill requiring the Department of Health and Human Services to have paper towels in public restrooms. Ryan defended his bill by saying, “I look at this simply. You are either pro clean hands or you are pro dirty hands.”

Witness, Jason Todhunter, told the committee if they passed the bill, “The Montana loggers will do our part to provide the towels.”

In his testimony, Ryan told a sad story of washing his hands in a rest stop between Helena and Missoula then finding there were no towels. That being true, one has to wonder if the unlucky fella might be bringing in a “toilet paper bill” after his next stop along the Interstate.