Montana to Transplant Grizzly Bears From Glacier to Yellowstone

Montana to Transplant Grizzly Bears From Glacier to Yellowstone

By Dan Pickar

As the delisting of the grizzly bear looms, somewhere in the scuffle and condition to actually delist the bears set by animal rights groups is the need for co-mingling grizzly bear genetics, in other words they want a connected grizzly population from Yellowstone to the Yukon. The two ecosystems these people are targeting first are the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and the Northern Rockies Ecosystem (Glacier National Park) have separate grizzly bear populations and once these bears co-mingle that will lead to delisting the grizzly. A 35 mile stretch around the Helena area is what is preventing these bears from naturally co-mingling and gaining genetic diversity.

Montana’s plan is to truck some bears from the Northern Rockies area and drop them into the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem as early as next summer. This isn’t a new idea as it was brought up in court during the 2018 delisting process. Animal rights activist Chuck Neal cited robust intermingling and genetic exchange between the two populations as a condition for the bears to be delisted. However, it doesn’t seem like Neal is happy with the trucking idea and called it a “hands-on, zoo-type program”. Instead Neal thinks the bears should be trucked to Idaho to start a new population in the Selway-Bitterroot region in central Idaho. 

Seems like another round of the ever moving goalposts if you ask me! 

https://cowboystatedaily.com/2023/12/06/transplanting-montana-grizzlies-

https://youtu.be/pJrs9TkCaSk?si=RIXx2DaAFTBuYGQi

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