MISSOULA — Attorneys for the state of Idaho are appealing a judge’s decision that blocked grizzly bear hunts and restored federal protections for the animals in and around Yellowstone National Park.
U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen in Montana ruled in September that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service should not have removed threatened species protections for the Yellowstone bears in 2017.
The ruling blocked the first grizzly hunts in decades in Wyoming and Idaho.
Idaho is appealing to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The court previously accepted appeals of Christensen’s ruling from Wyoming and the National Rifle Association.
Federal and state officials say grizzlies have made a full recovery, but environmental groups and American Indian tribes persuaded Christensen that the species remains in peril.