Donald Trump permits animal cruelty in Alaska

Donald Trump is attempting to revive some of the worst trophy hunting practices in yet another inexplicable move.

With his latest maneuver, the American government is seeking to reinstate the most extreme practices in recreational hunting and the trapping of trophies on public lands in Alaska.

Barbaric hunting methods are to become legal again

This proposed regression to a barbaric era comes as no surprise, given that the Trump administration has a devastatingly poor track record on the protection of wildlife and has made it its mission to permit deplorable hunting methods in states — particularly in Alaska — in order to appease a tiny minority of hobby hunters who want to kill black bears, grizzly bears, and wolves.

For the first time in five years, the slaughter of mother bears and their cubs during hibernation in their dens is once again to be permitted. Grizzly bears, wolves, and coyote pups along with their parents are also to be lured with bait and shot. Even caribou swimming in national wildlife refuges in Alaska are no longer safe from hobby hunters thanks to Donald Trump.

In addition to this revival of inhumane hunting techniques, the Trump administration proposed legislation that would permit shameful killing methods in wildlife refuges. These include luring brown bears with donuts, candy, and other enticing foods to make it easier to shoot the animals. It would also allow the trapping of wildlife without first obtaining federal permits — a change that would cause unnecessary suffering not only to animals caught in cruel steel traps, but also to countless other species.

Several hunting methods that Obama had only banned in 2015 are, for example, to be permitted once again:

1. Bear cubs may be killed together with their mothers.
2. Bears may be lured into traps using artificial light and bait.
3. Wolves and coyotes, as well as their young, may be hunted during the “denning season” — a protected period for pregnant animals.
4. Caribou may be shot from boats while they are defenseless during swimming.
5. Black bears may be chased with dogs.

Hobby hunters call themselves “conservationists”

These maneuvers by the Donald Trump administration are a blatant gift to the special interests of the small group of disturbed individuals who either profit from the unsportsmanlike slaughter of wildlife in our natural spaces or simply take pleasure in senseless killing. These hobby hunters have the audacity to call themselves “conservationists.” Such hunting myths are also widespread in Switzerland.

We know what this killing looks like. A video from 2019 documents footage of a father and son slaughtering a mother black bear and her screaming newborn cubs in their den, followed by self-satisfied, blood-soaked high-fives from the killers. This illustrates one of the shocking practices, the mindset, and the character of hobby hunters. The Trump administration has decided to make this legal in even more regions of Alaska.

Wildlife populations decimated by hobby hunting

Such intensive killing of animals by hobby hunters in Alaska has devastated and manipulated wildlife populations in the past. Wolf populations were decimated. Every time wolves left an unmarked safety zone, they were killed. Ultimately, caribou herds grew beyond the land's carrying capacity, and wolf populations in the national wildlife refuge suffered enormous, unsustainable losses. The situation was no better for grizzly bears, as extreme killing methods caused bear populations to decline. The use of hobby hunting as population control fails in Alaska as well.

Most Alaskans are opposed to cruel hunting practices. In 2016 and 2018, the Humane Society of the United States published surveys by the Remington Research Group showing that the majority of Alaskans are firmly against allowing these types of practices for hobby hunters on land within their state.

This comes as no surprise, since wildlife watching in Alaska contributes far more to the local economy than trophy hunting and trapping. Wildlife watchers in Alaska generate over 2 billion US dollars annually in wildlife-related recreational activities. This repeatedly demonstrates that these majestic animals are worth more alive than dead. National park areas in Alaska bring in the second-highest revenue in America's national park system after California, benefiting Alaska's economy as a whole. Wildlife watching tourism also dwarfs the revenue generated in Alaska from all hunting activities.

Wolves, black bears, and grizzly bears are tremendous magnets for tourists. When their populations are depleted, tourism revenues will decline.

The Trump administration's willingness to cater to particularly base interests in these matters is especially shameful, because these trophy hunters would prefer to deny most Alaskans — and indeed most Americans — the joy of seeing these beautiful animals in the wild. Hobby hunters and their selfishness always seem to think that the heads and hides of these animals will look better in their homes.

You are wrong, and the Trump administration's decision to allow the use of these horrific killing techniques contradicts clear congressional guidelines and a tradition rooted in the legacy of President Theodore Roosevelt — that the federal government should protect wildlife in national wildlife refuges.

These practices are the worst of the worst and represent a mismanagement of wildlife. They also make absolutely no sense for the animals, the public, or the economy.

Munich ecologist Josef Reichholf mentions in his book «Der Bär ist los» (2007) that trophy hunting has also evolved: today it involves deploying modern weapons technology from a safe distance at great expense. One can even purchase “computer-assisted kills.” “The shooter” is connected via the internet to a real rifle out in the wilderness, enabling him to “actually shoot the bear” from his home office. “The video is delivered to your door, and the pelt can be acquired as a trophy. Such a victory over a large animal cannot get any more embarrassing.” In the meantime, the drone has become an additional weapon in the trophy hunter’s arsenal — a tool that has also become indispensable for wildlife filmmakers.

Animal welfare advocates accuse the Trump administration of sacrificing species protection in the interests of business and the hunting lobby. With the new law, the Washington administration had reached “a new low in its treatment of wildlife,” declared Jamie Rappaport Clark, head of the animal welfare organization Defenders of Wildlife.

President Trump’s sons are enthusiastic hobby hunters who have traveled to Alaska to hunt on numerous occasions. The US hunting organization Safari Club, which had led a campaign against the hunting restrictions in Alaska, offered a hunting trip with one of the president’s sons as the top prize in its fundraising lottery this year.