US to Hire Two Grizzly Specialists in Montana Amid Conflicts

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The U.S. Department of the Interior is providing money to hire two specialists to help it manage grizzly bears in Montana.

The move follows complaints over conflicts between grizzlies and livestock or landowners that often end in bears being killed by wildlife workers.

Interior Secretary David Bernhardt says in a letter to members of Montana’s congressional delegation that the agency would play a “more conclusive role” in dealing with problem bears.

The state is home to the largest grizzly population in the U.S. outside Alaska, with more than 1,000 bears in northwestern Montana.

An additional estimated 700 bears live in the Yellowstone region of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.