NRA Wants To Ensure Grizzly Bear Hunting OK Near Yellowstone

BILLINGS, MT — After the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in July revoked the threatened status for grizzly bears, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming began mulling over limiting trophy hunts for grizzlies outside Yellowstone National park in future years. Now, the National Rifle Association and Safari Club International want to ensure their members can hunt the bears in the region .

Conservation groups have sued to restore the federal protections, and the NRA and Safari Club have asked U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen to allow them to intervene in the case.

Several of the groups' members said in affidavits that hunting would boost the region's economy, improve states' abilities to manage the animals and increase public safety.

"Having the ability to hunt grizzlies would be great for business. I would also personally hunt a grizzly if given an opportunity to do so," said Edwin Johnson, a 70-year-old hunting outfitter who lives in Gardiner, Montana. "They need to be hunted so that they fear the scent of humans, rather than following it as they do now."

An estimated 700 bears live in and around Yellowstone National Park. Attacks on humans have increased since the animals rebounded from widespread extermination in the last century.

At least six lawsuits to restore protections for grizzlies are pending in Montana and Illinois, although most are expected to be consolidated into a single case in coming months.

An attorney for environmentalists in one of the Montana cases said no decision has been made on whether to fight the attempt by the NRA and Safari Club to intervene.

"We are committed to doing everything we can to stop trophy hunting of grizzly bears leaving Yellowstone National Park," said Matthew Bishop with the Western Environmental Law Center, who is representing WildEarth Guardians.

By MATTHEW BROWN, Associated Press

Photo credit: National Park Service via AP