Grizzly Bear Hunt in 2025?

Photo Credit: TinaQuillen_Envato

U.S. District Court of Wyoming Judge Alan Johnson has ordered the United States Fish and Wildlife Service be given 45 days to make a decision on delisting lower-48 grizzly bears from the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The grizzly bear populations in states such as Wyoming, Montana and Idaho have recovered well past the goals determined for delisting but the USFWS has been dragging its feet on making a decision. 

“[T]he Court finds it proper to require FWS to issue its 12-month finding within 45 days of this Order,” Johnson wrote in a legal filing. “To be sure, this deadline will allow FWS to take its mandatory action nearly two years after it was initially due, as well as within a mere few weeks of the schedule it already indicated it could meet on its own.” 

There is zero doubt that the USFWS’s delinquent decision on grizzly bear delisting has been politically influenced by animal rights activist groups waiting in the wings to sue over any decision that goes against their wishes, regardless of what’s best for the bears, the ecosystem and most importantly, the people living in grizzly country. 

A decision to delist the bears, return management to the states and subsequently harvest a few of the over-objective bruins, is past due! I for one hope that common sense wins in 45 days and we can get back to science-based wildlife conservation under the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation that is responsible for every wildlife success story of the past 75 years. 

Source Link: https://wyofile.com/judge-gives-feds-45-days-to-decide-on-yellowstone-grizzly-bears-threatened-status/