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Grizzly Bears Can Now Be Hunted Near Yellowstone After Wyoming Vote

A grizzly bear mother and her cub near Pelican Creek in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. While they are protected within the park, the bears are now set to be targets of a big game hunt in Wyoming.Credit...Karen Bleier/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

HELENA, Mont. — The first large-scale hunt for grizzly bears in 43 years in the Lower 48 states is set to take place this September. The Wyoming Fish and Game Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to allow hunters to shoot as many as 22 grizzlies east of Yellowstone National Park.

Two weeks ago, the state of Idaho announced the first grizzly season since 1974, just before the Yellowstone grizzly population was listed as an endangered species. Idaho, though, will allow just one grizzly bear to be killed.

Montana has decided to forgo a grizzly bear season this year.

The hunt has been carefully planned to protect the species, officials say. “Wyoming is committed to ensuring a recovered population,” said Scott Talbott, director of the state’s Game and Fish Department.

Hunting season on grizzlies in Wyoming comes a year after the federal Fish and Wildlife Service lifted Endangered Species Act protection for the population of bears in the Yellowstone area. It found that their numbers have grown from fewer than 150 in 1975 to more than 700 bears in and around the park, and are recovered.

There is no hunting in Yellowstone National Park, where grizzlies are still protected. There were numerous meetings between state and Yellowstone officials over how to conduct the hunt so that park visitors can still enjoy bear watching.

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In the St'at'imc territory of British Columbia, Laura Grizzlypaws continues her tribe’s tradition of dancing to honor the grizzly bear.

“There are semifamous bears and bear viewing is a big industry,” said Kerry Gunther, a bear management specialist with Yellowstone National Park. “Our biggest concern is visitors along roads, and so Wyoming put a buffer on hunting around roads.”

There is vehement opposition to the resumption of grizzly hunting for several reasons. Some suspect that the bear counts may be inflated and that increased mortality, in combination with food supply reductions from a warmer and drier climate, could cause numbers to plummet.

Grizzly bears are taken as trophies, not for sustenance. Opponents say hunting the bears is cruel, because they are very smart, and according to experts, have distinct personalities. Some 200 tribal nations opposed the hunt of what they believe is a sacred animal and call for the bears to be relocated to tribal lands.

However, in addition to many biologists and some environmentalists, support for the hunting season comes from outfitters and ranchers, many of whom have to live with the bear day-to-day and deal with livestock depredation.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has now begun the process of delisting the only other large population of grizzly bears in the Lower 48, in the Northern Continental Divide Grizzly Bear Ecosystem, in and around Glacier National Park, where some 800 bears are believed to roam.

Several lawsuits against the hunt have already been filed, and there is a possibility that the season will be postponed or canceled.

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