U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack recently informed Congress he was closing the Agricultural Research Service’s U.S. Sheep Experiment Station in Dubois. The station’s 21 full-time employees hold about 5 percent of the 423 full-time jobs in the county.
"The sheep experimental station is operated in the prime migratory route for grizzly bears. there was little or no effort at non-lethal deterrence. The sheep posed an obvious and instinctually irresistable attractant for the bears who were dealt with for simply following their need to eat. Thank you for asking. The situation illustrates our need to be aware of how our own behavior affects the behavior of large carnivores who have very limited habitat and connectivity choices." The Cougar Fund