Center for Biological Diversity

For Immediate Release, May 23, 2018

Contact:  Noah Greenwald, (503) 484-7495, ngreenwald@biologicaldiversity.org

Wyoming Approves Cruel Hunt for Yellowstone Grizzlies

Trump Administration Prematurely Removed Endangered Species Protection, Cleared Path for 22 Bears to Be Killed

LANDER, Wyo.— The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission today approved the first hunt in decades for grizzly bears that wander out of Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. As many as 22 grizzlies could be shot and killed this fall, less than a year after the Trump administration stripped Endangered Species Act protection from Yellowstone’s bears. 

“Yellowstone’s bears are national treasures. Hunting them is like defacing the Statue of Liberty or filling in the Grand Canyon,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Millions of people come to see these bears every year. It’s so disturbing that Wyoming thinks they’re more valuable dead than alive.”

Wyoming received at least 125,000 comments from people opposing the hunt. Although grizzly bear numbers in the Greater Yellowstone area increased with endangered species protections granted in 1975, the bears continue to be threatened by isolation from other grizzly populations, loss of key food sources and human-caused mortalities, including, now, hunting. Overall grizzly bears occupy less than 4 percent of their historic U.S. range.    

“Grizzly bears have only just begun to recover, and hunting could sabotage that crucial process,” Greenwald said. “People love these bears and don’t want to see them killed just so somebody can put a trophy on the wall.”

Tourists from across the country and the globe visit Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park each year hoping to view a grizzly bear and other rare wildlife. But the new regulations would provide no protection for Yellowstone’s famed bears if they leave park boundaries. 

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.6 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

www.biologicaldiversity.org

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