The Biden administration will continue protecting about 2,000 grizzly bears in four Rocky Mountain states despite objections from Republican-led states, US wildlife officials said Wednesday. Federal officials also said they plan to reclassify the grizzly's status so ranchers would be able to shoot bears that attack livestock, the AP reports. Protections will remain in place in Idaho, Montana, Washington state, and Wyoming, the Hill reports. Protections will be withdrawn in states where the bears are no longer found, including California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Oregon. The changes announced Wednesday could be revisited under President-elect Trump's administration.
Grizzlies have been protected as a threatened species across the lower 48 states since 1975. Officials during Trump's first term sought to eliminate those protections but were reversed in court. Republican officials in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming petitioned the Fish and Wildlife Service beginning in 2021 seeking to reclaim state management of the grizzly population. That would have opened the door to hunts, although state officials said those would be limited and not endanger the overall population. Federal officials said they will work toward ending protections eventually but declined to offer a timeline.
"This reclassification will facilitate recovery of grizzly bears and provide a stronger foundation for eventual delisting," said Martha Williams, US Fish and Wildlife Service director. The agency's actions drew a sharp rebuke from Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke, who worked on a prior attempt to remove protections for bears in and around Yellowstone National Park when he led the US Interior Department under Trump. "There's no denying the Biden administration jammed this through with 12 days to go knowing it's a blatantly political play to appease radical environmentalists," Zinke said. "Thankfully the political hands pulling the strings at the US Fish and Wildlife Service are about to be fired."
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