Twenty-four grizzly bears have been captured so far this year in and around Yellowstone National Park as wildlife managers start another season of research toward a potential lifting of federal protections.
The Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team captured the grizzlies in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks and outside the parks in Montana and Wyoming.
Teams are now starting to trap grizzlies in eastern Idaho.
The estimated grizzly population in the 19,000-square-mile Yellowstone ecosystem is 757 bears.
Gregg Losinski of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game says grizzlies are recovered in the Yellowstone ecosystem and should be delisted.
Noah Greenwald of the Center for Biological Diversity says the bears also need to be doing well in other recovery areas before delisting can happen.