U.S. proposes end of grizzly-baiting ban in Alaska's national preserves
Source: Reuters
ENVIRONMENT MAY 21, 2018 / 7:08 PM / UPDATED 10 HOURS AGO
U.S. proposes end of grizzly-baiting ban in Alaska's national preserves
Laura Zuckerman
4 MIN READ
(Reuters) - The Trump administration has proposed rescinding Obama-era rules barring sport hunters from using bait to lure and kill grizzly bears in Alaska’s national preserves, as is allowed in other parts of the state, the National Park Service said on Monday.
The plan, pushed by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and assailed by environmentalists as inhumane, would give state wildlife managers the discretion to decide what kinds of bear-hunting methods are permitted across 20 million acres (8 million hectares) of national preserve lands in Alaska.
Alaska in 2005 began allowing grizzly-baiting for the first time since statehood as part of a predator-control program to boost populations of big-game animals popular with hunters such as moose in the state’s vast interior.
The practice of using anything from stale doughnuts and lard to honey-drenched dog food to attract grizzlies into the open for hunters to more easily shoot them was banned in Alaska’s preserves in 2015 by the Park Service under then-President Barack Obama.
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Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-alaska-hunting-bears/u-s-proposes-end-of-grizzly-baiting-ban-in-alaskas-national-preserves-idUSKCN1IM2I0
