Dave Mattson, davidjmattson@gmail.com (contact for phone)
Missoula, MT-- Moments ago, a judge ruled that safeguards for Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem grizzly bears are restored, deciding that Sec. Zinke’s Department of the Interior decision to strip Endangered Species Act protections from the population was illegal.
In response, scientists, wildlife biologists and photographers released the following statements:
"Thank God someone has finally stood up with the majority of American people and saved our majestic Yellowstone bears from becoming trophy heads on walls,” said Dr. Rob Wielgus, Former Professor and Director (retired) of the Large Carnivore Conservation Laboratory at Washington State University.
“Fortunately, Yellowstone's grizzly bears won’t be sitting on top of a powder keg this year. The natural ecosystem that once sustained them is unraveling, but luckily they will not face the threat of Wyoming and Idaho’s unsustainable trophy hunt,” said Dr. David Mattson, United States Geological Survey Research Wildlife Biologist and Research Station Leader (retired) and Lecturer and Senior Visiting Scientist, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (retired).
“I have been so fortunate to spend time photographing and observing the behavior of grizzly bears in Wyoming. I work to capture intimate moments of bear behavior like a mother and a cub bonding, to change negative perspectives on them. I’m so happy these animals will not be hunted. I want to show younger generations, through my photos and work, that incredible animals deserve to live freely and not in fear,” said Ashleigh Sculley, sixteen-year-old award-winning wildlife photographer.
“The underpinnings of Wyoming and Idaho’s wildlife management are political and ideological, largely at the expense of grizzlies for the presumed benefit of a few people. But today, the scientific and thoughtful concept of wildlife conservation, which mainly endeavors to benefit wildlife and our entire natural system, prevailed,” said Dr. Paul Paquet, Professor at University of Victoria’s Geography Department and Senior Scientist at Raincoast Conservation Foundation.
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3 million members and supporters. In addition to helping people from all backgrounds explore nature and our outdoor heritage, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.