[MCN] Grizzly bear death at Idaho bait station precisely what conservation groups’ lawsuit hoped to prevent

[Matthew Koehler]

For immediate release: June 20, 2024


<jeffjuel at wildrockies.org>

Grizzly bear death at bait station precisely what conservation groups’
lawsuit hoped to prevent

SAINT MARIES, IDAHO*—*Conservation groups lost their appeal at the Ninth
Circuit court
<https://westernwatersheds.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/2024-Ninth-Cir-Order.pdf>this
week, cementing a lower court decision that concluded that bear-baiting in
Idaho and Wyoming national forests doesn’t harm federally-protected grizzly
bears. The court order comes on the heels of this week’s news that a hunter
in Idaho’s Panhandle killed a grizzly bear at a bait station
<https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2024/jun/19/hunter-shot-grizzly-after-idaho-officials-said-it-/>
after
mistaking it for a black bear, exactly the situation that the conservation
groups were hoping to prevent with their litigation.

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) finished investigating the
June 10, 2024 grizzly bear killing
<https://idfg.idaho.gov/article/fg-concludes-investigation-panhandle-region-grizzly-bear-shooting>on
June 18, and announced that the agency had misidentified the species from
video, effectively giving the hunter permission to shoot the bear at the
bait site. Part of the uncertainty was blamed on the fact that the grizzly
was outside of the species’ known range, despite hunters in the Panhandle
region being warned by IDFG itself that grizzly encounters are possible
<https://idfg.idaho.gov/article/reminder-grizzly-bears-can-frequent-any-game-management-unit-panhandle-and-eastern-idaho>
.

“These were exactly the types of tragic grizzly killings we were hoping to
avoid through our lawsuit for the federal agencies to consider whether bear
baiting should be allowed in grizzly bear habitat,” said Erik Molvar,
executive director of Western Watersheds Project. “The courts,
unfortunately, didn’t see the risks and declined to compel new federal
consultation. It’s deeply unfortunate.”

“Another protected grizzly bear in Idaho has been shot by a hunter at a
black bear bait station–it’s so obvious that bear baiting should be banned
in national forests,” said Lizzy Pennock, carnivore coexistence attorney at
WildEarth Guardians. “IDFG wants to see grizzly bears delisted and claims
that they can manage the species. How can they manage grizzly bears if they
can’t even identify one?”

“The killing of a threatened grizzly bear at a bait station near St. Maries
is tragic on so many levels,” said Dana Johnson, attorney and policy
director for Wilderness Watch. “The grizzlies who set out in search of new
territory are beacons of hope—they are the bears who will reestablish home
ranges in places like the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness and help reconnect
and recover otherwise isolated and struggling grizzly bear communities. But
we keep baiting and killing them. Incidents like this are tragic because
they are so utterly preventable. It has to stop, and we’re not going away
until it does.”

"Now we are faced with this untenable situation--where baiting for black
bears is allowed in grizzly habitat by the state of Idaho and sanctioned by
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the federal courts, with
there being no way to hold anyone accountable for this killing of an
endangered grizzly as a result," said Jeff Juel of Friends of the
Clearwater. "The State of Idaho says the grizzly bear should be removed
from the federal Endangered Species list because they can manage the
species, but this incident proves they’re entirely unqualified.”

“Grizzlies deserve safe passage into new habitats, and dispersal is a key
aspect of their life cycle,” said Molvar. “A fed bear is a dead bear, and
placing bait stations in grizzly habitat to attract black bears opens a
Pandora’s box of bad outcomes.”

Media Contacts:

Erik Molvar, Western Watersheds Project, (307) 399-7910,
emolvar at westernwatersheds.org Lizzy Pennock, WildEarth Guardians, (406)
830-8924, lpennock at wildearthguardians.org
Dana Johnson, Wilderness Watch, (208) 310-7003,
danajohnson at wildernesswatch.org
Jeff Juel, Friends of the Clearwater (509) 688-5956
jeffjuel at wildrockies.org


# # #


Matthew Koehler
Media Director
Wilderness Watch
406-396-0321
www.WildernessWatch.org <http://www.wildernesswatch.org/>
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