Grizzly Bear Killings Head to Court - East Idaho News
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Grizzly Bear Killings Head to Court

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Powerful Grizzly Bear

Deborah Courson Smith

BOISE, Idaho – Federal approval for the killing of up to 15 grizzly bears in two areas of northwestern Wyoming near the Idaho border is going too far according to a planned lawsuit to protect the grizzlies.

Bonnie Rice, Northern Rockies senior representative with the Sierra Club, one of the groups that filed the “intent to sue,” says federal agencies aren’t looking at the big picture when granting exemptions to allow grizzly killings.

“Increasing that take without looking at how the aggregate take across the ecosystem is going to affect recovery, that is our real concern here,” says Rice.

She says when all the “take” numbers are added up, it means that up to 65 bears could die in the Yellowstone region. That’s more than three times what the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has deemed safe to prevent decline.

Bears are killed as a result of human conflicts, whether because of grazing, road building or even hunting. Rice explains, grizzlies are attracted to gut piles, and they’ve shifted their diet as the climate has changed. Bears used to rely more on whitebark pine seeds.

“As grizzly bears in the ecosystem are turning more to meat, they’re not really taking that into consideration,” says Rice. “What we would want to see is conflict-reduction measures in those areas.”

Rice says the lawsuit cites Endangered Species Act rules that require federal officials to look at entire ecosystems when making wildlife management decisions.

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