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 The latest count of grizzlies in the Yellowstone region puts the
estimated population of the hump-shouldered bruins at just over 750,
well exceeding the government's recovery goal of 500 animals,
according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
That compares with just 136 believed left in the Yellowstone
ecosystem - encompassing parts of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho - when
grizzlies were formally listed as threatened throughout the Lower 48
states in 1975, after they were hunted, trapped and poisoned to near
extinction.
Sportsmen and ranchers, who make up a powerful political
constituency in Western states, have strongly advocated de-listing
grizzlies, arguing that their growing numbers pose a threat to
humans, livestock and big-game animals such as elk.
Environmentalists have raised concerns that while grizzlies have
made a comeback, their recovery could falter if federal safeguards
are lifted, a move that would open the animals to public hunting
outside of the national park.
Native American tribes, which revere the bear, also are skeptical of
removing the grizzly's threatened status.
But the Obama administration has been talking about de-listing the
Yellowstone grizzlies since late 2010, and a joint federal-state
committee of wildlife managers recommended ending their protected
classification two years later.
A spokesman for the Fish and Wildlife Service, which administers
U.S. safeguards for the bulk of imperiled species, said the agency
was moving in that direction in recent talks with the three states
and tribal governments on a plan to manage grizzlies without federal
protection.
"The service is hopeful that we can confirm the adequacy of existing
regulatory mechanisms in the near future, and if so, we anticipate
having a proposal to delist ready in the next few months," the
spokesman, Ryan Moehring, told Reuters on Monday.
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A panel of federal and tribal bear managers will gather on Tuesday
and Wednesday in Wyoming, where they are expected to back the
de-listing of the grizzly.
But leaders of several tribes, including the Shoshone-Bannock of
Idaho, are to meet later this week with top U.S. wildlife and land
managers and members of Congress to lobby against state plans for
opening trophy hunts of grizzlies, said Sara Atiqtalik, spokeswoman
a coalition of 40-plus tribes opposed to delisting.
Any delisting proposal would only apply to bears in and around
Yellowstone. Four other populations clustered in parts of Montana,
Idaho and Washington state would remain classified as threatened for
now, Moehring said. A much larger grizzly population in Alaska is
unlisted.
Yellowstone's grizzlies were briefly removed from protected status
in 2007, but were later re-listed after environmentalists sued,
saying the government had failed to account for such factors as
climate change.
(Editing by Steve Gorman and Ken Wills)
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