SCI is working to protect the freedom to hunt & promote wildlife conservation
SCI is appealing a recent federal court ruling that put grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park back on the list of threatened species.
Safari Club International asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday to overturn the September ruling from U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula.
Molloy said a combination of climate change pressures and lax protections from government agencies put the region’s 600 grizzlies at risk.
Safari Club attorney Douglas Burdin said the animals should be under state jurisdiction, which could open the door to future grizzly hunts.
Friday is the deadline to appeal Molloy’s ruling, which came out of a 2007 lawsuit filed by the Greater Yellowstone Coalition against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Fish and Wildlife plans to file a “placeholder” appeal with the court prior to the deadline. But the agency has not yet decided whether it will pursue the matter with the 9th Circuit, spokeswoman Sharon Rose said Wednesday.
Wyoming Attorney General Bruce Salzburg wants the 9th Circuit to transfer the case to a federal court in Idaho, where a separate lawsuit over grizzlies is pending. He appealed Molloy’s ruling last month.
Grizzlies were listed as threatened from 1975 until 2007, when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared them recovered. Environmentalists immediately sued to reverse the action. No hunting was allowed in the two years they were off the list.