A grizzly bear comeback in California? An old dream gets new legs

A feasibility report using historical maps and ecological data is raising excitement: ‘It would be a slow process’On the eve of the gold rush, California was teeming with grizzly bears – as many as 10,000 of them. They were so popular that the Bear Flag Republic – a short-lived attempt by a group of US settlers to break away from Mexico in 1846 – used the animals as their mascot; an image that still adorns California’s flag.But by the mid-1920s, the bears were