"Yellowstone-Area Grizzlies No Longer Need Protection, U.S. Says"

"Federal wildlife managers have determined that grizzly bear numbers in and around Yellowstone National Park have rebounded sufficiently to propose stripping the animals of U.S. Endangered Species Act protections in the months ahead, a spokesman told Reuters.

The latest count of grizzlies in the Yellowstone region puts the estimated population of the hump-shouldered bruins at just over 750, well exceeding the government's recovery goal of 500 animals, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

That compares with just 136 believed left in the Yellowstone ecosystem - encompassing parts of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho - when grizzlies were formally listed as threatened throughout the Lower 48 states in 1975, after they were hunted, trapped and poisoned to near extinction."

Laura Zuckerman reports for Reuters November 3, 2015.