The Latest: Lawmaker pans tribes' push to protect bears
Source: Associated Press
Updated 3:08 pm CDT, Wednesday, May 15, 2019
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) The Latest on a proposal to give grizzly bears permanent protections regardless of their population size (all times local):
2:00 p.m.
A Republican lawmaker says a push to permanently protect U.S. grizzly bears because they are considered sacred among Native Americans would elevate "sentimental biases" above science.
California Rep. Tom McClintock is the ranking Republican on a House panel that took testimony Wednesday on legislation to ban grizzly hunting outside Alaska regardless of population size.
McClintock says the proposal ignores the species' recovery in parts of the Northern Rockies. He says it would put the public at risk of more grizzly attacks.
Former Hopi Tribe chairman Benjamin Nuvamsa told lawmakers that grizzlies play a central role in the traditions and ceremonies of many tribes.
Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/us/article/The-Latest-Lawmaker-pans-tribes-push-to-protect-13848264.php