Groups File Lawsuit to Return Louisiana Black Bear to Endangered Species List
By KATC News
A lawsuit filed Wednesday by several groups is seeking to return the Louisiana Black Bear to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife.
The Louisiana Black Bear was removed from the list in March 2016.
The lawsuit, filed September 30 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana, is disputing the FWS' claim that the bears have recovered their populations.
The agency claims that those recovered numbers amount to between 500 and 750 bears which is double the bear's population when it was first listed as endangered in 1992.
The filers say that those estimated numbers are not correct and may be fewer due to the introduction of non-native black bears from Minnesota in the 1960s.