Yellowstone grizzly bear deaths down

Fewer run-ins between Yellowstone grizzly bears and hunters and renewed efforts to protect them led to a sharp drop in bruin deaths in 2009, officials say, but the decline has failed to quiet growing concerns about the long-term fate of the species.

The lower death toll comes just a year after a record number of the region's grizzlies were killed. In September, they were returned to the threatened list.

Biologists say it's unlikely this year's death toll will grow much beyond an estimated 46 killed so far, because the massive bears are denning up for the winter. Seventy-nine were killed last year -- by hunters acting in self-defense, wildlife officials dealing with problem bears, natural causes and vehicles slamming into the animals.

Environmentalists pointed to last year's deaths as evidence the bear's slow recovery from near-extermination had turned sour. They argued in part that climate change was forever altering the animal's food supply. But federal officials say last year -- when a short summer drove hungry bears out of deep wilderness and into areas where they got into trouble -- will likely be an exception.