BOISE, Idaho - Today, The Humane Society of the United States (The HSUS), The Fund for Animals and an Idaho resident filed suit in U.S. District Court in Idaho to stop the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) from stripping Yellowstone grizzly bears of all protection under the Endangered Species Act.
"Despite grave threats to the Yellowstone grizzly bears' survival, the federal government has decided to subject the bears to trophy hunting – the very same needless killing that nearly wiped the bears off the continent in the first place," said Michael Markarian, executive vice president of The HSUS and president of The Fund for Animals.
The Fund for Animals originally petitioned to list grizzly bears back in 1975, and since that time grizzly bears in the lower 48 states have been protected from sport hunting and other threats to their survival because of the protections provided by the Endangered Species Act. Contrary to FWS' claim, such protections are still necessary.
By turning over management responsibilities to the states of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, FWS is clearing a path for trophy hunters to decimate a population that still teeters on the brink of extinction. All three states have made it clear that once the bears are de-listed, trophy hunting will follow in short order.
The complaint filed today charges that FWS' de-listing of the bears violates the Endangered Species Act because, in addition to the threat posed by trophy hunting, the small isolated grizzly population is increasingly threatened by loss of habitat and dwindling food sources, as the animals and plants the bears feed on are likewise becoming increasingly scarce.
The plaintiffs are being represented pro bono in the case by the law firms Faegre & Benson; Jacobson, Buffalo, Magnuson, Anderson & Hogen; and Judi Brawer, a public interest attorney in Boise.
Facts:
The Yellowstone grizzly bear population is down 35 percent from just the previous year's count.
FWS delisting of the Yellowstone grizzly bears will turn management of the bears over to the state governments of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming which have made clear they will open the population up to sport hunting.
Historically, more than 100,000 grizzly bears occupied an expansive range, which included the entire western United States.
Over the last 200 years, the grizzly bear's range and total population rapidly declined due to commercial trapping, habitat destruction, livestock depredation control, sport hunting and poor federal management.
Altogether there are only approximately 1,090 grizzly bears living in five isolated populations in the Northwestern U.S.
Scientists agree that 2,000 to 3,000 bears would be needed to create a genetically viable stand-alone population.
The grizzly bear remains threatened with extinction due to existing and foreseeable threats to the bear's food sources such as the cutthroat trout, whitebark pine, army cutworm moths and winter-killed ungulates.
Timeline:
- June 28, 2007—The HSUS, Fund for Animals and an Idaho resident file suit in U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho to prevent FWS from delisting Yellowstone grizzly bears.
- March 15, 2007— The HSUS submits comments opposing FWS plan to de-list Yellowstone grizzly bears.
- Sept. 27, 1991— In Federal District Court in Washington D.C. the Fund for Animals (which combined operations with The HSUS in 2005) successfully challenges FWS regulations authorizing sport hunting of grizzly bears in northwestern Montana.
- July 28, 1975— In response to a petition from the Fund for Animals, FWS lists grizzly bears in the lower 48 states as threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.
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The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal protection organization – backed by 10 million Americans, or one of every 30. For more than a half-century, The HSUS has been fighting for the protection of all animals through advocacy, education, and hands-on programs. Celebrating animals and confronting cruelty -- On the web at humanesociety.org.
