A Good Day for Grizzlies?

The Bush administration is at it again, now tampering with the Endangered Species Act, which originated during President Nixon's term in 1973.

The population of grizzly bears that resided in Yellowstone National Park was acknowledged as threatened by the government in 1975 with a population of 300 or less. They were put on the Endangered Species Act because of their loss of habitat as their land was cleared away, and also because of frequent confrontations with people. The grizzly population now consists of over 500 bears; enough it seems, for the Bush administration to deem them unthreatened.

For the grizzlies, this isn't such good news. Several state senates, including Montana, have unanimously voted to allow hunting on currently protected species, when they become unprotected. Grizzly bears will see their numbers dwindled once more, as the allowance of limited hunting will ensure.

Global warming will also hurt these amazing predators. As the earth warms and climates change, so have their natural environment, the forests of whitebark pines in the north. This loss of habitat also limits the area of sustainability for the bears, which is predicted to reduce their numbers as well in the future.

The Wildlife Society, a group of professional scientists and researchers, are torn on the issue regarding the lifting of the Endangered Species Act on the grizzly bears. The Wildlife Society is made up of about 8,000 scientists, some of them agreed with the lifting. Those against it said it was premature to remove the bears. Others of the opposed simply argued the point to create a balance within the Society. In total there were 250 opposed experts to the removal of the bears.

The government is letting people know about the other bear populations that are still low, those in the other parts of the country. The Fish and Wildlife Service is letting people know that there are other grizzly bears still endangered and still on the list, and only the ones in Yellowstone National Park are being removed from the list after decades of immunity, and their numbers doubling.

It seems that 500 grizzly bears still isn't very many, but considering their survivable habitat, and the fact that their numbers have more than doubled since they were protected year ago, that may be close to the limit that can survive in the surrounding region. All of us hope, I'm sure, that the great grizzly bears of Yellowstone will be around for a very long time, regardless of other delegations.
MSNBC News Staff, "Yellowstone grizzlies taken off endangered list". MSNBC. URL: (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17739184/)