On Sept. 24, a federal judge restored federal legal protections for grizzly bears of Yellowstone National Park. The judge ruled that the grizzlies could become extinct due to inbreeding and lack of genetic diversity.
“By refusing to analyze the legal and functional impact of delisting on other continental grizzly populations, the service entirely failed to consider an issue of extreme importance.”
In April 2018, the U.S. Interior Department announced it would not restore federal protections for grizzly bears. In May, he Wyoming Wildlife Commission voted unanimously to allow hunting of grizzly bears in the state. The ruling would have allowed hunters to kill up to 22 bears during hunting season.
“Grizzly bears are the slowest-reproducing mammal on the planet, and a population decline can take decades to reverse,” Derek Goldman of the Endangered Species Coalition writes to NPR.
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