2 months ago
BILLINGS, MT (AP) -- A federal judge in Montana says the government must restore protections for an estimated 600 grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park, citing a decline in their food supply caused in part by climate change.
Grizzlies lost their status as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act in spring 2007.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula sided with environmental groups who argued in a lawsuit that the bear population remained at risk even after bouncing back from near-extermination last century.
Molloy cited a decline in whitebark pine trees -- a key food source for many bears that has been disrupted by climate change -- forest fires and other factors.
The Associated Press
