Today is the day when the grizzly bear in the Yellowstone ecoregion as it’s called, is officially no longer listed under the Endangered Species Act. Of course it and all large mammals always have the protections of the Endangered Species Act and this change of listing doesn’t even change who manages the species on the ground. The states of Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho, have been managing the species for years. Fund raising groups often say “protections to be lifted from bears!!!” and that’s simply not true, they are still fully protected, from endangerment and threats, all that’s different is their listing and the rules that accompany the listing. Scientists look at populations, not individuals, scientific scientists that is.
There are some changes that will be immediate. Anyone who shoots a grizzly in self defence or by mistake no longer will have to go through months of trepidation and interrogation while hoping they aren’t prosecuted under very stiff endangered species laws. Think it’s easy to tell a black from a grizz? Take the Montana bear identification quiz. A few years ago a wildlife biologist shot a grizz by mistake while hunting, it happens.
Of course every bunny hugger group and their seven sisters is lined up to challenge this in court. The income from donations alone should be very good. Many groups look upon the Endangered Species Act as being a No Hunting Act, and that is a very important reason why upcoming proposed changes to the act might very well pass and be signed into law. While it’s true that anti hunting groups have misused the law, it’s also true that the Endangered Species Act has been key to slowing or even reversing the decline of many species. Big extraction would love to see the act neutered, and they could care less about hunting bears.
Should hunting grizzlies be allowed? It is already. Don’t want to shoot a grizz, then don’t. There will probably be 20 or 30 tags per year, enough to bring the population down to the point where the bears stop expanding east onto farm land. “But eee gads, it’s those trophy hunters!” If all usable meat were required to be saved to eat, as it is in my state, would that make a difference? Probably not, antis are anti, the expression trophy hunter is just the excuse. “But my religion”, check out that first amendment, I’ve about had enough holly rollers preaching for one life.
When, as is expected, the endangered species act is reformed, with the support of Democratic senators from places like Montana, or N Dakota, or Minnesota, or Wisconsin, it will be because of bears and wolves, and the current misuse of the act.
In a way the grizzly bear is a very good test of the endangered species act itself. The bears in Yellowstone ecoregion were recovered more than ten years ago, the scientific arguments against delisting are simply too ludicrous to even repeat, they boil down to “don’t shoot bears”. The species itself is plentiful worldwide, especially in the USA, we listed it because we wanted to, not because there was any danger to the species.
The range of the Brown Bear (we call it grizz) has historically declined in North America, Europe, and Asia, and the species has been extirpated in North Africa. However, it remains widespread across three continents, and is still one of the world’s most widely distributed terrestrial mammals. Globally the population remains large, and is not significantly declining and may be increasing in some areas
www.iucnredlist.org/…
Grizz Wiki
On the right prehistoric/historic/present range of grizzly. If you look very carefully at the bottom of the tongue extending down into the lower 48, just below it is a tiny speck, that’s not dirt on your monitor, that’s the 700 or so grizz that are being delisted. Map from wiki.