US activists to sue to prevent grizzly bears from losing federal protection and being hunted

Conservationists threatened to sue on Friday in order to block a plan by US wildlife managers that strips grizzly bears of federal protection, opening them to hunting around Yellowstone National Park.

Three coalitions groups in The Humane Society, WildEarth Guardians and another that includes the Sierra Club and the Northern Cheyenne Tribe each formally notified Republican President Donald Trump’s administration that they intend to file lawsuits to prevent the delisting of the bears as endangered species.

“Truly recovering grizzly bears requires more than making Yellowstone into a proverbial zoo,“ said WildEarth Guardians carnivore advocate Kelly Nokes in a statement. ”Bears need protections across their range.”

An Interior Department official said in a statement on Friday that the agency had not yet received notices of possible litigation. A request for comment was referred to the Justice Department, which did not immediately respond.

Last week, US Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, a former Montana congressman, said Yellowstone-area grizzlies would be removed from the list of endangered species this summer, a move he hailed as “one of America’s great conservation successes” due to the animals’ rebounding population.