It’s a big win for conservationists: a San Francisco court has just declared that grizzly bears should be kept on the list of protected species, and that these famous bears could no longer be hunted, even outside the Yellowstone Park.
Environmentalists, as well as the native tribes who waged this fight, had to push a big “phew” of relief. A San Francisco court has decided that grizzly bears can no longer be hunted, including outside of Yellowstone Natural Park. Since hunting is prohibited inside the national park, these animals are protected as long as they do not cross borders. But the animals do not know the barriers, and they could very well be hunted around.
This is, moreover, what the neighboring states of Wyoming and Idaho had proposed in 2018, by considering a “trophy hunt”, an event that had not taken place in 40 years. 23 grizzly bears who could have lost their lives around the park. Environmental organizations as well as indigenous tribes have taken up the matter. Already in 2017, the American Office of Fisheries and Wildlife (USFWS) had removed grizzly bears from the list of endangered species, claiming an increase in their population.
It is true that, since the 1970s, these animals have gone from 140 individuals to more than 700 today, and the grizzly bears returned to live in areas where they had not been for more than 100 years. This is what makes Tex Janecek, president of Safari Club International, say that “We should have a hunting season, and the states should regulate this. Bears venture far from the Yellowstone area and endanger people. Hunting can also have beneficial effects. “
At first instance, the judges ruled that grizzly bears should return to the list of protected species, which was confirmed by the July 8 judgment in San Francisco. Tim Preso, lawyer for the NGO Earthjustice, which represented the northern Cheyenne tribe, says: It is a huge victory for those who care about Yellowstone and its grizzly bears (…), symbols of what remains of our shrinking nature and of our attacked wild fauna. The grizzly bear population is still far from being rebuilt. Hunting these magnificent animals through America’s most iconic national park should never be the case again.”