Teams Trapping Grizzlies As Feds Eye Delisting

Sixteen grizzlies have been captured so far this year by teams gathering information that will be used this fall to decide whether to propose lifting federal protections of the bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

The Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team captured the grizzlies in Montana and Wyoming, while efforts in eastern Idaho have just started. The team usually captures about 60 bears each year.

An estimated 740 grizzly bears roam the 19,000-square-mile Yellowstone ecosystem that includes portions of the three states plus Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park.

Chris Servheen of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says information from the trapping and other studies will go into the agency's decision about the bears first listed as threatened in 1975.