US Officials to Lift Yellowstone Grizzly Bear Protections

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — U.S. government officials say grizzly bears in Yellowstone National Park region are no longer threatened, and that they will lift protections that have been in place for more than 40 years.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said Thursday that the recovery of Yellowstone's grizzlies is one of the nation's great conservation success stories. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will turn over grizzly bear management to Montana, Idaho and Wyoming by late July. The states plan to allow limited bear hunts outside park boundaries.

The ruling does not affect threatened grizzlies living in other areas of northwestern Montana and northern Idaho. Grizzlies have been listed as a threatened species since 1975 when just 136 bears roamed in and around Yellowstone. There are now more than 700 grizzlies in the Yellowstone region.