The Grizzly is extinct in California
except on the state flag
exterminated by American settlers
with baits of sponge congealed in bacon grease
that, once swallowed, blocked
the animal's digestion lethally
as they expanded, leaving
his habitat for mines and cattle ranches;
orchards and vineyards; malls and subdivisions,
factories, schools and prisons.
Before the Christian missionaries came
the aborigines
practiced coexistence with the bears
and there were one or two in every tribe
whose maiming showed the cost
of stubbornness or of misunderstanding.
The Californios
harassed them from their settlements and on holidays
would rope and tie one to a bull and watch them
fight it out for sport.
Then, after the Gold Rush, Yankee craft devised
the ultimate solution.
The California Black Bear in the wild
contrastingly aloof avoids human
contact and survives.