Source:
Los Angeles TimesBush Administration to remove Yellowstone grizzlies from endangered list
By Bettina Boxall, Times Staff Writer
March 23, 2007
Danger's passed?
After more than 30 years of strict federal protection, the Yellowstone population of grizzly bears is being removed from the endangered species list by the Bush administration.
Formidable remnants of the wild frontier, the Yellowstone grizzlies, living in and around the national park, have rebounded from fewer than 200 animals in 1975, when they were listed as a threatened species, to around 600 today....
The move means that for the first time in three decades, grizzlies could soon be hunted on a limited basis in some parts of the Yellowstone region — outside the park — where the largest population of grizzlies in the lower 48 states roams across thousands of square miles of mostly federal wild lands....
Although environmentalists agreed the bear numbers have climbed to a heartening degree, some criticized the Yellowstone delisting, warning that climate change is reducing a vital food source and human population growth is increasing the chances of lethal run-ins....The Yellowstone grizzly joins a short list of high-profile species, including the bald eagle and the gray wolf, that the federal government is moving to delist....
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