Billings, Mont. • A U.S. judge on Thursday delayed for two more weeks the first grizzly bear hunts in the Lower 48 states in almost three decades, saying he needed more time to consider if federal protections for the animals should be restored.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen left the fate of the bruins in and around Yellowstone National Park in limbo, more than a year after federal officials declared the population had recovered from near extermination.
Up to 23 bears could be killed in the hunts planned in Wyoming and Idaho.