Well, doesn’t that title sound honorable “Interior Proposes to Restore State-Aligned Hunting Regulations on Alaska National Preserves.” What it actually means is the Trump administration just moved to bring bear baiting back to Alaska’s national preserves.
The proposed rule would overturn restrictions put in place and would allow hunting regulations which permit bear baiting in certain areas to apply inside national preserves, including Denali and Wrangell-St. Elias.
The practice involves luring brown bears with food (bait often includes dog food and human food such as bacon grease and pancake syrup) and shooting them when they arrive. This is being framed as restoring “state authority”.
And the harms go well beyond the bears themselves. The National Park Service has concluded that bear baiting poses unacceptable public safety risks bears are more likely to attack when defending a food source, meaning visitors who encounter a bait station are at risk, and bears that aren’t killed can become conditioned to associate human food with people.
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