US will keep protecting more than 2,000 Rocky Mountain grizzly bears
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The Biden administration will continue protecting about 2,000 grizzly bears in four Rocky Mountain states despite objections from Republican-led states, U.S. wildlife officials said Wednesday. The Associated Press obtained details of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision in advance of a planned public announcement.
Federal officials also said they will reclassify the grizzly’s status so that ranchers would be able to shoot bears that are killing livestock. Officials will end protections for the animals in states where they’re no longer found, including California, Colorado, New Mexico and Oregon.
The fearsome bruins have been protected as a threatened species across the lower 48 states since 1975. Officials during President-elect Donald Trump’s first term sought to eliminate those protections, but were blocked in court. Republican officials in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming petitioned the Fish and Wildlife Service beginning in 2021 seeking to reclaim state management of the grizzly population. That would have opened the door to public hunts, although state officials said they would be limited and not endanger the overall population.
Federal officials said they will work toward ending protections eventually, but declined to offer a timeline. “This reclassification will facilitate recovery of grizzly bears and provide a stronger foundation for eventual delisting,” Martha Williams, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director, said in a statement.
