The Great Grizzly Debate: Whether to Re-Bear the State : Environment: The last one in California was shot in 1922. Those who propose reintroduction cite wolves’ return to Yellowstone. But opponents note that the mighty bruin views humans as food, and that its would-be habitat is now suburbia.

If you’re hunting for California grizzly bears, you can forget Yosemite. The only places you’ll find one are on the state flag, the state seal and University of California souvenirs.

The official state animal is extinct--and wildlife advocates say it should be brought back, much as wolves are being brought back to Yellowstone National Park.

They insist that grizzlies could roam in what’s left of the California wilderness, they suggest, and residents could learn to live with them respectfully, as Alaskans and Canadians have.

But others express grave concerns about the safety of humans who might come in contact with the bears, and even more, about the safety of bears who might come in contact with some of the state’s 32 million humans.

“I think it would be absolutely lovely if there were a place for grizzly bears in California,” said Dave Graber, a scientist with the National Biological Service in Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks.

“But I do not think there is a place for grizzly bears in California. We used it up,” Graber said. “Now, if you could empty Fresno and Tulare counties from the bottom to the top, it would be an ideal bear sanctuary, and would probably be an improvement.”

Wild animals are an emotional issue in California, where urban sprawl has pushed more residents into the fringes of wildlife habitat. Urbanites also crowd the state’s parks and forests for recreation.

Two women have been killed by mountain lions in California in the last year, spurring efforts in the Legislature to overturn the state ban on hunting the big cats. Grizzly bears, which view humans as food, would likely produce greater alarm.

The California Mountain Lion Foundation, already in the thick of battles between cougars and humans, has published a proposal called “Bring Back the California Grizzly.”

“Establishing a viable population of grizzly bears, which is a wide-ranging omnivore . . . has never been tried before,” foundation director Mark Palmer said.

He is trying to raise $45,000 for a serious study of the idea.

The proposal is “refreshing and at least worthy of serious consideration,” Stephen Herrero, a bear expert at the University of Calgary, Canada, told Palmer.

“If you were successful, it would be an act of unprecedented conservation significance, but it would also change the basic nature of the wilderness experience in the State of California,” Herrero wrote.

The grizzly once roamed the coastal valleys in great numbers. But in less than a century, guns, farms and subdivisions eliminated all remnants of the magnificent bear, as human settlers moved in and pushed the grizzly out. The last California grizzly was shot by a San Joaquin Valley rancher in 1922.

To survive for more than a generation or two, more than 250 grizzlies would have to be brought to California, bear experts say. Each bear, which can grow to more than 800 pounds, would need between 10 and 100 square miles of wilderness in which to roam.

The problem isn’t that grizzlies require complete solitude, Graber said, “it’s that people require no grizzlies.”

Humans “will put up with a thousand times more risk from street crime,” Graber added, “but not the threat to campers, back-yard pets and farm animals that grizzlies might pose.”

Californians are already having difficulty coping with the more docile, vegetarian black bears, said Bob Stafford, coordinator of the state Department of Fish and Game’s black bear program. California is home to 17,000 to 23,000 of the smaller bears.

In recent weeks, black bears have been raiding garbage cans and scaring people near Pasadena, he said. Just last week, one snatched a cake off a garbage can in Glendora, then returned the next night for more. Homeowners chased him away with a garden hose. In the remote Siskiyou County town of Happy Camp, near the Oregon state line, dozens of bears have been feasting at the local dump, hauling garbage away and eating pet food.

When bears become accustomed to human food they have to be killed, fish and game officials say.

The black bear problem hints at an even greater conflict if grizzlies were introduced, Stafford said.

“Just because you put them on top of a mountain somewhere doesn’t mean they’re going to stay there. And once they come down, they’ll be killed,” Stafford said.

Palmer acknowledges there would be problems. “There’s definitely concerns about public safety. Grizzly bears are fairly pugnacious--we’ve had problems with them in the national parks.”

At Yellowstone and Glacier national parks, Stafford said, someone is injured or killed by a grizzly about once a year.

Nevertheless, bear boosters say, it’s worth considering bringing the grizzlies back, and training humans to coexist with them.

Rod Mondt, of the Wildlands Project in Tucson, Ariz., whose goal is to “restore and protect native biodiversity throughout North America,” said the grizzly has value as an “umbrella species.”

That means that if the range and habitat of the bears is protected, animals lower on the food chain would also be protected.

“We recognize that politically the feasibility of reintroduction is a long way off,” he added. “But political reality changes every day. Somebody has to be a dreamer.”