Judge Blocks Grizzly Bear Hunt
Missoula, MT — A judge on Thursday granted a temporary restraining order stopping the Wyoming Grizzly Bear hunt that was set to start September 1st.
In the order, the Judge Dana L. Christensen wrote that the impending hunt would cause irreparable harm to grizzly bears “because once a member of an endangered species has been injured, the task of preserving that species becomes all the more difficult.”
The population of grizzlies living in Yellowstone was classified as a threatened species in 1975, when its number had fallen to 136. The Fish and Wildlife Service initially declared a successful recovery for the Yellowstone population in 2007, but a federal judge ordered protections to remain in place while wildlife officials studied whether the decline of a major food source, whitebark pine seeds, could threaten the bears’ survival.
In 2017, the federal agency concluded that it had addressed all threats, and ruled that the grizzlies were no longer a threatened species needing restrictive federal protections. That prompted six lawsuits challenging the agency’s decision. Those lawsuits have been consolidated into one case that Christensen heard Thursday.
This is great news for the Grizzly Bears! At least until Friday, September 14th, no bears will be hunted. Beyond that the fate of the bears is still unclear.
