Lawsuit: Cabinet grizzly bears should be reclassified as distinct
WILDLIFE -- A conservation group is suing the federal government for the second time in two years for failing to reclassify a small population of grizzly bears as endangered, the Associated Press reports.
The roughly 40 grizzly bears in the Cabinet-Yaak area along the Montana-Idaho border are considered a threatened species.
The Alliance for the Wild Rockies said in a Feb. 9 lawsuit that the population is in decline because of humans killing bears. The group says at least 100 bears are needed for the area’s grizzlies to avoid extinction.
An endangered listing would require protection of the bears’ habitat.
A 2014 lawsuit from the Alliance was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy. Molloy said the matter was moot because of a finding that year from U.S. officials that an endangered listing was not warranted.
Last week, tentative approval was given to mining operations that would drill under the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness despite concerns about the impacts to the endangered grizzlies.
