U.S. Judge Temporarily Bars Montana Grizzly Bear Hunting

A federal judge Friday temporarily barred the government from allowing sport hunting of grizzly bears in northwestern Montana.

U.S. District Judge Michael Boudin issued his ruling four days before Tuesday’s scheduled start of the fall hunting season for the bears, which are designated as a threatened species.

In a case brought by the Fund for Animals, Boudin said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had not shown that there is a surplus of grizzlies in the area, a finding that is required under the Endangered Species Act before the animals may be hunted.

“Congress has specifically limited the hunting of a threatened or endangered species to extraordinary cases of population pressures,” Boudin said.

The ruling was a preliminary one that Boudin said will remain in effect until he issues a final decision in the case.

Wayne Pacelle, national director of the Silver Spring, Md.-based Fund for Animals, said the ruling was “an enormous victory . . . that vindicates our claim all along that this is an illegal hunt.”

Of 618 animal species designated as endangered or threatened, the grizzly bear is the only one the government allows to be hunted for sport, he said.

Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Pat Fisher said officials at the agency could not comment until they had read the decision.