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Lawsuit Challenges Wyoming Grizzly Delisting Effort

The lawsuit claims the commission failed to follow public notice and comment requirements

By Dillon Tabish

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Groups are challenging the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission over its recently adopted grizzly bear management rules.

The Humane Society of the United States, the Center for Biological Diversity and Jackson, Wyoming-based filmmaker James Laybourn filed a lawsuit against the commission Friday in state court in Cheyenne.

The lawsuit claims the commission failed to follow public notice and comment requirements before adopting grizzly management rules earlier this year.

Renny MacKay is spokesman for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. He says the department disagrees with the lawsuit’s claims.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced in March it’s proposing to lift threatened-species protections for hundreds of Yellowstone-area grizzlies. That could allow future hunts for the bears in portions of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho for the first time since the 1970s.