Judge blocks first grizzly hunts in decades in Lower 48

A judge has temporarily blocked the opening of the first grizzly bear hunts in the Rocky Mountains in more than 40 years, as he considers whether the government was wrong to lift federal protection on the animals.

US District Judge Dana Christensen's order came just two days before Idaho and Wyoming prepared to open the first grizzly bear hunting seasons in the Lower 48 states since 1974.

The order will remain in effect 14 days.

"The threat of death to individual bears posed by the scheduled hunts is sufficient" to justify a delay in the state's hunting seasons, Christensen wrote in the order yesterday.

The move marked a victory for wildlife advocates and Native American tribes that sued over the US Fish and Wildlife Service's decision in 2017 to lift protections for 700 grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park.

"We're thrilled," said Mike Garrity, the executive director for plaintiff Alliance for the Wild Rockies. "Now the judge has time to rule without grizzly bears being killed starting Saturday morning."