Have you ever visited Yellowstone? Chances are that if you have, you hoped to see or actually did see a Yellowstone Grizzly Bear. The grizzly bear, which has been protected from trophy hunting in Wyoming since they were put on the Endangered Species Act in 1975, is the number 1 species that visitors want to see.
That protection has helped the species recover to a more stable population but many threats to it’s survival remain, including increased human development on the periphery of Yellowstone, the decline of major food sources for the grizzly bear and climate change.
The Wyoming governor and state wildlife agency has been working tirelessly to regain control of grizzly bear management and has promoted wrestling that control from the federal government as a state’s rights issue. This is all part of a plan to knock back the grizzly population thru trophy hunting and to get access and exploit the public lands that have been off limits to mining, drilling, and logging due to Endangered Species Protection.
It appears that they have been successful and that delisting of the bear from ESA protections will happen within the year.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department is so excited about the prospect of gaining management control over the grizzly bear, that they are already starting on plans to create a trophy hunting season and sell licenses to kill a grizzly bear for a mere $600.00 dollars for Wyoming residents and $6000.00 to nonresident trophy hunters, Potentially grizzly bears would be hunted right up to the boundaries of Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.
Just like Cecil the Lion was shot at the edge of Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe.
Never mind the fact that the majority of Americans, Wyoming residents included, think that the bears should remain protected. 77% percent of of those polled recently in a Jackson Hole, Wyoming News and Guide poll support continued protection from trophy hunting.
One of the reasons why there is so much local support is the fact that grizzly bears are a critical part of the billion dollar tourism economy in the Yellowstone region. Wildlife watching is one of the main activities for visitors to the region and wildlife tourism is growing exponentially worldwide.
And yet grizzly bears which spend most of their life in the safety of our national parks but who leave the parks seasonally to feed outside the parks, could soon be shot and skinned just outside the park’s boundary, their bodies left to rot and be scavenged upon. All for the sake of a sport hunter’s trophy.
Please visit the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s website here-
https://wgfd.wyo.gov/Wildlife-in-Wyoming/Hot-Topics/Draft-GB-Mgmt-Plan
And tell them that the Yellowstone Grizzly Bear is far more valuable alive than dead and that there should NEVER be hunting along the boundaries of Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks or in the recovery zone where they have been protected for the last forty years! If these public lands in our national forests have been critical to the bears survival since 1975 then they will always be critical to the species and should forever remain off limits to trophy hunting.
You can also sign a petition to keep the grizzly bear listed on the Endangered Species list at-
www.change.org/...