A couple of weeks ago, an adult grizzly killed a miniature paint horse near the South Fork of the Shoshone River and was transplanted to the Bridger-Teton National Forest in current grizzly habitat. But, since the legally-embattled bruin has been sent back to the endangered list, any state actions must be approved by the federal government while potential legal haggling unfolds.Most state grizzly management action now requires consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said Mark Bruscino, Wyoming Game and Fish Department bear management program supervisor in Cody.

“It's completely under their authority,” Bruscino said.

“It's just like it was before delisting in 2007,” said Chris Servheen, grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Missoula, Mont.

Fish and Wildlife will ask U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula to reconsider his decision. If Molloy doesn't, the service probably will file an appeal to that decision, Bruscino said.

In his decision, Molloy wrote that laws, regulations and policies governing grizzly management are inadequate, Bruscino said. In other words, before delisting, those laws, regulations and policies must be in place to ensure the bear doesn't become endangered again, Bruscino said.

If Molloy's decision bears up to legal scrutiny, those laws and regulations will require revision, Bruscino said.

There are nearly 600 grizzly bears in the Yellowstone ecosystem of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.

Bruscino said the population is growing 4 to 7 percent annually.

“Biologically, bears are recovered,” Bruscino said, adding that hard data supports that claim.

Molloy and conservation groups have concerns about diminishing white bark pine nut supplies, a high-protein food grizzlies eat prior to hibernation. But Servheen said grizzly populations are not threatened by lack of pine nuts.

Servheen said the bears are omnivorous and will survive seasons without nuts.

White bark pine and grizzlies have received a lot of press lately, but grizzlies in other locations in the northern hemisphere are living without pine nuts, Bruscino said.

Grizzlies have responded well to conservation efforts. It is just a legal issue now.

“It has nothing to do with biology,” Bruscino said.