Dan Thompson

“None of us got into this job to kill the animals we love,”

Dan Thompson · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-27

Thompson commented on the difficult task of killing bears that come into conflict with humans.

“I have always been personally intrigued with carnivores and their role throughout any ecosystem,”

Dan Thompson · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-27

Thompson spoke about his personal interest in carnivores and his field work capturing and studying them.

“Once bears have obtained food rewards that they associate”

Dan Thompson · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-27

Thompson described the concept of human-food conditioning in bears.

“I have seen over the years and decades that things ebb and flow,”

Dan Thompson · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-27

Thompson observed that bear encounter levels fluctuate over time.

“I actually feel very fortunate to get paid to do what we do.”

Dan Thompson · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-27

Thompson expressed appreciation for being paid to do carnivore field work.

“The high level of animals that were removed in conflict, that takes those out of the equation, right? And so for all those reasons, I would not expect this to be the norm.”

Dan Thompson · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-27

Thompson argued that the high number of bear removals this year should not become the norm going forward.

“we call that human-food conditioning. Once they are at that level, we are going to have to put that bear down,”

Dan Thompson · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-27

Thompson explained that bears conditioned to associate people with food must be euthanized.