Trump administration removes protections for Yellowstone grizzly bears

The Trump administration is removing Endangered Species Act protections for Yellowstone grizzly bears, after they spent more than four decades on the threatened list. The Interior Department’s Fish and Wildlife Service announced the delisting decision Thursday, which immediately drew rebukes from conservationists and Democrats. Officials said that conservation efforts for the bear, a more than fourfold increase in its population and state policies designed to protect the bears show that the delisting is warranted. The Yellowstone grizzly bear lives in and around Yellowstone National Park in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. Other segments of the grizzly bear population are not affected by Thursday’s regulation and will continue to be protected as before. The bear’s population is now around 700, compared with 150 when it was first listed. Its range is 22,500 square miles, more than double the range of the mid-1970s...more