The Biden administration is keeping protections in place for more than 2,000 grizzly bears in western states despite requests to lift the safeguards.

Grizzlies in Idaho, Montana, Washington and Wyoming will continue to be protected under the Endangered Species Act.

The decision will likely anger the officials of several northern states, which have demanded the right to take over bear management from U.S. Fish

After a months-long delay, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Wednesday that grizzly bears will retain protections under the Endangered Species Act, despite efforts by several western states to remove them.

Grizzly bears likely will retain Endangered Species Act protections as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service redefines how it thinks about bears, moving from an approach focused on recovering islands