A federal judge in Montana issued a Thursday evening court order blocking trophy hunts of Yellowstone’s grizzly bears that were slated to begin Saturday for the first time in 40 years.
U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen issued a 14-day restraining order before the states of Wyoming and Idaho were scheduled to open licensed grizzly hunts. The state was given the discretion to manage the hunts after the Trump administration removed the bear’s protective status earlier in the year.
The judge’s order sided with Native American groups and environmentalists who sought to restore the animal’s protective status after the decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Environmentalists earlier on Thursday had called for the restraining order, as they waited for the judge to rule on whether the Interior Department should place the grizzly back on the list of threatened species for the Yellowstone area.
Christensen, in granting the restraining order, said that the environmentalists and tribal groups were “likely to succeed on the merits” of their broader lawsuits.
