Wyoming is drafting a plan for its first grizzly bear hunt in decades. Conservation groups are accusing the state of not following agreed-upon quotas for how many Yellowstone Grizzly can be hunted.
Andrea Santarsiere is the with Center for Biological Diversity. Her group strongly opposes the hunt.
"We don’t support trophy hunting," said Santarsiere. "And that’s what this hunt is."
Under an agreement between Idaho, Montana and Wyoming there are a specific number of Yellowstone grizzlies that can be hunted. But the numbers are fractional - for example under the agreement Wyoming can hunt 1.45 of a female bear. So the states agreed to rounding the numbers. Santarsiere was not impressed.
"Even just using basic mathematic principals, 1.45 doesn’t round up to 2," said Santarsiere.
A statement from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department says all three states quote "agreed that rounding was appropriate as long as it didn’t result in an increase in the total allocation."
Idaho is considering a grizzly hunt this season. Montana is not. Yellowstone grizzlies were delisted last year.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, Yellowstone Public Radio in Montana, KUER in Salt Lake City and KRCC and KUNC in Colorado.
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