For Immediate Release, July 26, 2018 Contact: Andrea Santarsiere, (303) 854-7748, asantarsiere@biologicaldiversity.org Wyoming, Idaho, Colorado Billboards Target Yellowstone Grizzly Hunt CODY, Wyo.— Five billboards that will be seen more than a million times by people in three states started going up today as part of a campaign to stop trophy hunts planned this fall for Yellowstone grizzly bears in Wyoming and Idaho. The first billboards went up today in Casper, Wyo. and near Fort Collins, Colo. Others are coming soon to Cody, Wyo. and Boise, Idaho. The billboards feature a bear with its paw raised, the statement “I'm not a trophy” and the URL www.StopTheGrizHunt.org. “Wyoming and Idaho should be absolutely ashamed for allowing some of America’s most iconic bears to be senselessly gunned down,” said Andrea Santarsiere, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Millions of people come to Yellowstone National Park every year to see these grizzlies. But the second these bears step out of the park, they could be shot dead by a hunter’s bullet. It’s ugly and reprehensible.” Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and the Trump administration stripped Endangered Species Act protection from Yellowstone’s grizzlies in June 2017. That move paved the way for grizzly hunts in Wyoming and Idaho that are scheduled to begin Sept. 1. More than 20 grizzlies could be shot and killed, including as many as 13 female bears. The billboards, which will be up for at least a month, are part of a campaign against the hunt. There will be a national “day of action” on Aug. 7, a petition to Zinke to immediately reinstate federal protections, public rallies and wildlife advocates at select spots in Yellowstone National Park, speaking with visitors and urging them to oppose the hunt. “Grizzly bears survive in less than 5 percent of their historic habitat. The last thing they need is to be shot just so someone can put a grizzly head on their wall or a rug on their floor,” Santarsiere said. “This trophy hunt goes against everything we stand for when it comes to saving species from extinction.” The Center and allies are also in court challenging the Trump administration’s decision to strip federal protection from Yellowstone grizzlies. The next hearing is in Missoula, Mont., on Aug. 30.