Alaska: More Animal Protection for Wildlife

Cruel hunting methods to be banned

The National Park Service wants to ban hobby hunters on some public lands in Alaska from baiting black bears with donuts and using spotlights to shoot hibernating bears and cubs in their dens. These techniques, permitted under the Trump administration, are regarded by conservationists as inhumane.

A new rule proposed by the American government would also prohibit hobby hunters from entering wolf dens to kill cubs. In addition, trapping is to be regulated.

The rule proposed by the National Park Service would essentially restore restrictions that existed during the Obama administration but were gutted under President Donald J. Trump.

Under the new rule, hobby hunters in Alaska's wildlife refuges would no longer be able to kill adult wolves and cubs in their dens or use motorboats to shoot swimming caribou.

A victory for animal rights

These and other methods, condemned by animal welfare advocates as cruel, were banned on federal land in 2015 but have been permitted since 2020 on millions of hectares of wilderness in Alaska.

“This proposal would reduce the risk of bears associating food at bait stations with humans and becoming accustomed to eating human-produced food, which would endanger public safety,” said the National Park Service.

“We have long argued that our government must protect the valuable wildlife of our nation and must not work hand in hand with trophy hunters to sanction some of the most reckless killing methods targeting defenceless animals,” said Kitty Block, President of the Humane Society of the United States.

Sara Amundson, president of the Humane Society Legislative Fund, described the new rule as “a victory for Alaska’s iconic wildlife species.” “Baiting bears just to shoot them over a pile of donuts is simply wrong,” she said.

Protracted Legal Dispute

The Trump administration had prioritized expanding hunting rights on federal land. Donald Trump Jr., an avid hobby hunter, advocated for trophy hunting. In 2020, the Safari Club International, which promotes big game hunting auctioned off a week-long “dream hunt” through Alaska with the president’s son.

Many supporters of recreational hunting and leading politicians in the state of Alaska said they viewed the Obama-era restrictions as an infringement on states’ rights. The new rule will likely continue an already protracted legal dispute. A coalition of conservation organizations had already sued the government over the Trump administration’s policy in 2020.