US will keep protecting more than 2,000 Rocky Mountain grizzly bears

[Pantheraman]

"The Biden administration said Wednesday it will continue protecting about 2,000 grizzly bears in the Rocky Mountains despite opposition from Republican-led states.

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 open the door to hunts, although state officials have said those would be limited and not endanger the overall population.

Federal officials said they will work toward ending protections, 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."

US will keep protecting more than 2,000 Rocky Mountain grizzly bears

 

[Pantheraman]

"According to Bruce, failing to recognize grizzly bear recovery in Wyoming is an insult to the ESA and dismisses the extensive efforts of wildlife managers to ensure their place on the landscape. She says the service has chosen to ignore science and keep grizzly bears listed.

“This is not a science-based decision, but a decision based on the federal government not wanting to give up control,” Bruce said. “One of the greatest wildlife conservation success stories on earth is being undermined by a failure to recognize those compromises, collaborations, and sacrifices that brought back grizzly bears from the brink of extirpation.”

Game and Fish Director Angi Bruce: Grizzly bear decision unfortunate, disappointing for Wyoming

An insult to the Endangered Species Act? I beg to differ. Let's look at what Western states have been doing to predatory animals under state management within the past few years.

1. They've declared war on wolves within their respective borders, wanting to greatly reduce their numbers.

2. In Wyoming, there is an open season in most of the state, and they allow people to run wolves and coyotes over with snowmobiles. In response to the incident in Daniel, Wyoming, a "working group" was created that did nothing but require the animals to be killed as humanely as possible. Which I highly fail to see how one can kill something humanely with a snowmobile.

3. In some states, they've either raised the hunting quotas on mountain lions or have done away with them. With Utah being the most extreme example.

4. In Montana, the game agency had a 37 percent cap on the amount of female black bears that could be killed. Recently based solely on anecdotes, the FWP commission did away with the population cap.

Now, all this considered, there's no way these states can be trusted to manage grizzlies properly, and I firmly stand with the USFWS on this.

 

[Summer Tanager]

I don't want to get into an argument because each of us is entitled to our opinions and you've raised some reasonable points. I've know Angi Bruce for about seven years and I've always found her to be very reasonable and professional. She raises a good point that the Yellowstone DPS of Grizzly Bears has reached the point at which a reclassification to threatened is warranted based on its recovery goals. If the USFWS wants to hold off a little longer, I can live with that, but at some point it will be delisted. That population of Grizzly Bears is listed as endangered only because it qualifies as a distinct population segment. As the population continues to grow, it will soon connect with the larger population of Grizzlies in Alberta and will no longer be a DPS and will no longer qualify for ESA management because the subspecies as a whole is not threatened or endangered.