Trump administration ends ban on killing Alaska bear cubs, wolf pups

The Trump administration just restored Alaska hunting rules that allow killing bear cubs, and using doughnuts, dogs, and bright lights to kill bears

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Tuesday overturned an Obama-era rule that barred hunters in Alaska national preserves from baiting bear traps or killing denning bear cubs and wolf pups or other practices that have been condemned by environmental and wildlife protection groups.Under the new National Park Service rule, effective July 9, hunting on natural preserves in Alaska will be controlled by the state, which allows baiting of brown and black bears; hunting of denning black bears with artificial light, killing of denning wolves and coyotes, hunting of swimming caribou and hunting of caribou from motorboats.

The Obama administration had banned all those practices in National Parks.

The change stems from 2017 orders issued by then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to provide greater recreational access for hunting and fishing in Alaksa, National Park Service spokesman Peter Christian said, acknowledging that the rule-change was unpopular.

“I would say the vast majority of people did believe this was a controversial move and were almost entirely opposed to us lifting the ban,” he said.

"The Trump administration has shockingly reached a new low in its treatment of wildlife. Allowing the killing of bear cubs and wolf pups in their dens is barbaric and inhumane. The proposed regulations cast aside a primary purpose of national preserves to conserve wildlife and wild places," Jamie Rappaport Clark, president of Defenders of Wildlife, said in a written statement.

State officials said the Obama-era rule was wrongheaded.

“From our perspective, the Park Service was infringing on our territory,” said Eddie Grasser, director of wildlife management for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, adding that some of the hunting practices now allowed in national preserves are part of indigenous culture.

Those practices are used by only a small number of people in a few places, Grasser said.

Another pending Trump administration rule, expected to be released on Wednesday, would overturn similar restrictions in Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.

Trump administration reverses Alaska hunting ban and allows black bear cubs, wolf pups to be killed in dens

• The Trump administration just scrapped an Obama-era ban on a series of hunting practices that limited how hunters killed bears and wolves on Alaskan national preserves.
• Hunters will soon be able to blind bears with lights, hunt them down with dogs, and bait them with human food like doughnuts.
• They'll also be able to kill wolves and coyotes in summer, when mothers wean pups, and it will be legal to shoot caribou from motorboats or while they're swimming.
• Some Alaskan politicians have welcomed the rollbacks, but conservationists have called them "amazingly cruel," The Guardian reported.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Hunters in Alaska will soon be able to blind brown bears with bright lights and bait them with human food before killing them, after the Trump administration just ended an Obama-era ban on controversial hunting practices on national preserves.

On Tuesday, the National Park Service Policy published changes to game-hunting regulations in the Federal Register, scrapping a 2015 rule that restricted practices on more than 20 million acres of Alaskan federal land.

The rollbacks, which have been in the works since 2018, include letting hunters use artificial lights and dogs to catch black bears and cubs.

Previously, hunting bears with cubs or hunting the cubs themselves was banned.

A black bear sow and cub in Copper Center, Alaska.

Jessica Matthews/For The Washington Post via Getty Images

Hunters will be able to catch brown bears using human food, like doughnuts soaked in grease. They'll also be able to kill wolves and coyotes in summer, when mothers wean young.

It'll also be legal to shoot caribou from motorboats and while they're swimming.

Increasing hunters' and fossil fuel companies' access to land has been a focus for the Trump administration. Hunting reforms, in particular, have been championed by the president's son Donald Trump Jr., a well-known hunter, The New York Times reported.