— A U.S. judge ordered federal protections restored for grizzly bears in the Northern Rocky Mountains on Monday, a move that blocks the first grizzly hunts planned in the Lower 48 states in almost three decades. Pressure to lift protections on bears and allow hunting has increased in recent years as the number of conflicts between bears and people increased. Most of those conflicts involve attacks on livestock but occasionally bears attack people, such as a Wyoming hunting guide killed earlier this month by a pair of grizzly bears. “Putting the blinders on to everything other than Yellowstone grizzlies was illegal,” he said. “The idea of recovering grizzly bears in the Lower 48 should still be on the table.

Source: National Post September 24, 2018 23:27 UTC