Group Favors Ending
Grizzly Loss Funds

RIVERTON, Wyo. —(AP)— State payments to ranchers whose livestock is harmed by grizzly bears should end, to expedite grizzlies' removal from the federal endangered-species list, a legislative committee recommends.

If the Wyoming Game and Fish Department no longer had to investigate damage claims and pay them, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would be forced to do something about problem bears, perhaps even taking them off the list, the Joint Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee has concluded.

Game and Fish Director John Baughman said grizzly numbers are on the rise and his agency has shown it can manage the bears. But for a change in authority to occur, federal protection under the Endangered Species Act would have to end.

Baughman said the state needs long-term financing for bear management, which costs an average of $800,000 a year.

Most of that goes for investigation of damage claims and related work, Deputy Director Bill Wichers said. Department officials spent more than 900 hours trying to catch one grizzly after it killed sheep, he said.