Yellowstone's Grizzlies Facing Legalized Hunting

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Yellowstone's Grizzlies Facing Legalized Hunting

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, Feb. 10 -/E-Wire/-- Right now, the Bush administration wants to prematurely remove Endangered Species Act protections for grizzly bears in and around the Yellowstone Park, before they are ready to survive without them.

Hollywood star Jeff Bridges and his wife Susan live just outside Yellowstone Park and have a special affection and understanding of these great bears. They're asking for your help to retain protections for Yellowstone's grizzlies.

Here's what you can do: The Fish and Wildlife Service is accepting comments from citizens until next Wednesday, February 15th. Please, visit http://ga0.org/campaign/save_grizzly?source=enn_grizzly_0206 to take action and to tell the Fish and Wildlife Service not to de-list Grizzly Bears until their habitat is protected and their long-term survival is secure.

Make no mistake; kicking grizzlies off the Endangered Species list may amount to a death warrant for these majestic creatures. Today there are an estimated 500 grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone - only a tiny fraction of the 100,000 grizzlies that roamed the West just a few hundred years ago. Yet despite this, the states of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho all have plans to allow grizzly hunting if ESA protections are removed.

To make things even worse, ending endangered species protection for grizzly bears would open vast wild lands around Yellowstone to development, clear cutting, road building, and energy extraction, wrecking one of America's last pristine open spaces. By protecting Yellowstone's grizzlies, we can also protect these areas, and the elk, wolves, bison, eagles, bighorn sheep, and countless other species that share this wild and beautiful landscape.

For years, strong safeguards under the Endangered Species Act have brought Yellowstone's grizzly population back from the edge of extinction, but it's just too soon to remove the legal safety net that has kept the bears from disappearing.

Please, help Earthjustice tell the Fish and Wildlife Service not to de-list grizzly bears until their habitat is protected and their long-term survival is secure. Your comments must be received by February 15, 2006 â visit http://ga0.org/campaign/save_grizzly?source=enn_grizzly_0206 to take action today!

The risks of taking away the bear's safety net are just too great: No species can come back from extinction

Media Director, Earthjustice

Telephone : [REDACTED-PHONE]

E-mail : [REDACTED-EMAIL]

http://www.earthjustice.org

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