The National Park Service is considering a rule that would allow extreme and unethical hunting practices on Alaska National Preserves, including bear baiting and the killing of bear cubs and wolf pups in dens. These practices conflict with the founding purpose of the National Park Service, which has been tasked by Congress to preserve park wildlife unimpaired for future generations.
Allowing bear baiting and den killing would make national preserves less safe and undermine Alaska’s tourism economy. Familiarizing bears with human food increases the risk of dangerous encounters, putting visitors, local communities, and other wildlife at risk. Most visitors come to Alaska’s parks hoping to see bears in the wild—not lured to greasy piles of food for trophy hunts.
Tell the National Park Service that Alaska should not become a testing ground for weakening wildlife protections across the entire National Park System. Today it’s bear baiting in Alaska’s preserves; tomorrow it could be similar practices in parks across the country.
Dear Regional Director Striker:
From Katmai to Denali, Alaska’s national park bears are iconic symbols of Alaska and the National Park System. The proposed Alaska Hunting Rule attacks those bears and other national park predators. The rule authorizes the killing of bear cubs and wolf pups in dens in parts of some preserves, and allows sport hunters to leave greasy piles of food to “bait” bears for trophy hunts across millions of acres of national preserves. The rule is not consistent with the National Park System’s wildlife management ethic. It is also dangerous. Baiting habituates bears to human food, increasing the chances of bear attacks on visitors to our national parks and preserves.
I value our national park system, the wildlife it protects, and the opportunities it provides for visitors to observe wildlife. The Park Service should not permit bear baiting or the killing of cubs and pups in dens. I urge you to withdraw this proposed rule.
