Page 18 - Wyoming's Grizzly Harvest - The Story the State Wants to Bury with the Bears

Wyoming’s Grizzly Harvest changes comes in the December 2015 draft memorandum of agreement (MOA) the tri-state game agencies submitted to FWS Director Ashe. At least on the subject of Wyoming and killing, Servheen has been as good as his word; Wyoming is to receive 58% of the “regulated harvest,” Montana 34% and Idaho 8%. Despite assurances to the contrary, the document indicates that Wyoming’s first grizzly trophy hunt slated for 2017 will be anything but conservative, as the MOA provides WGFD with an initial “take” of 72 grizzlies. The MOA suggests that trophy hunting would be suspended if the Yellowstone grizzly population fell below 600 bears, as it does in the Demographic Recovery Criterion. However, federal and state government data compiled in 2015 indicates that the population may already be below that threshold after 61 known grizzly mortalities were recorded for the year, dropping the lower population estimate of 642 grizzlies below that redline. Wyoming adheres to the FWS 2013 Demographic Recovery Criterion, in which Servheen recommended “maintaining a minimum population size of 500 animals and at least 48 females with cubs” within the designated “Monitoring Area.” WGFD’s prior plans made it plain that the state intended to manage grizzlies to a baseline 18