The people of Wyoming are getting frustrated but despite that, the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission voted to not ignore federal restrictions and hold a grizzly bear hunt.
We would throw our citizens into an untenable situation, which I don’t feel comfortable doing as a commissioner,” Pat Crank, commissioner from Cheyenne, told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.
Wyoming already appealed a decision by a federal judge that vacated a decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to delist Yellowstone area grizzlies.
“Things that are being argued about now are not whether (grizzlies) are biologically recovered; it’s whether it can be demonstrated in a court of law,” Dan Thompson, Wyoming Game and Fish Department large carnivore program supervisor, told Wyoming Tribune Eagle. “We’re seeing tolerance waning. We’ve crossed the finish line twice and seen it taken away. There’s a very heavily shared frustration.”
Wyoming spent more than $16 million on grizzlies over just the last 10 years.
The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation maintains that grizzly bears should be subject to state management just as those state agencies manage elk, mountain lions, deer, black bears and other wildlife.
(Photo source: Wyoming Game and Fish Department)