The Ninth Circuit vacated a lower court's conviction of a man in Montana for killing a threatened grizzly bear in violation of the ESA. The man claimed that he was acting in self-defense when he killed the bear behind his home in May 2014.

A district court granted environmental groups' motion for summary judgment and required USDA's Wildlife Services to conduct a more thorough analysis of the potential impacts of its predator-killing operations before expanding those operations to game animals and protected species.