Endangered Species

Matt Rainey, News Reporter

  The endangered species list in Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks have are deciding on keeping certain animal on their list, the Grizzly bear. For years people hunted this animal for game, its fur, and many other reasons. In recent years, the population of the bears have declined drastically from 50,000 to just over 700 around Yellowstone National Park from the 1970s to now.

  The endangered species list has many animals on it from the Northern white Rhinoceros to the Siamese Crocodile. The list was created with the Endangered Species Act in 1973; It helped with the preservation of many animals that were on the brink of extinction.

  The Grizzly bear was originally put on the list in 1975 when population plummeted to 136 bears around Yellowstone National Park. As the bears gained their population back the debate rattled on between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and various Environmental and Tribal groups on whether the Grizzly Bears should remain on the list or not.

  When the population of the bears reached over 700, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service urged the bears to be taken off the list and let their hunting season begin. This would be the first time the bears would be hunted in the Yellowstone area since 1974.

  The hunt was supposed to commence on September 1 but was stopped by a federal judge. This was due to many Environmental groups suing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service because they used so called false information regarding the place the bears hold on the endangered species list.

  The endangered species list has been looked at constantly in recent years due to the Trump’s administration. This is because the administration has been under much pressure to change the Endangered Species act, which is why they were pushing so severely to get the Grizzly bears off the list to please the its supporters and others.

  Ever since the bears have been put on the list their population has slowly risen by only around 600 in the past 40 years. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are going to rethink the decision they tried to make due to the slowly increasing population and the thoughts given by the various National Parks.