Tell the National Park Service:
Don’t Turn Preserves into Bear-Baiting Grounds
The National Park Service has proposed a rule that would allow bear baiting and other extreme predator-killing practices on 22 million acres of national preserves in Alaska. This proposal would reverse longstanding wildlife protections and permit hunters to lure grizzly and black bears with piles of human food and shoot them at point-blank range.
Animal Wellness Action strongly opposes this proposed rulemaking, and we need your help right now.
The proposal would rescind anti-bear-baiting policies adopted in 2015 and allow unsporting and destructive hunting methods that are inconsistent with the conservation mission of the National Park Service. Among the most troubling changes is the potential return of bear baiting.
Bear baiting:
- Artificially manipulates wildlife behavior
- Creates food-conditioned bears that associate humans with food, increasing the risk of dangerous human-bear encounters
- Undermines the ecological integrity of national parks
The National Park System exists to conserve wildlife and natural ecosystems — not to be a playground for bear baiters who want to shoot a bear in the back while the animal has his or her head in a feed bucket. It’s the height of unsporting behavior.
Please Submit a Comment Today Opposing this Plan
The federal government must accept and consider public comments before finalizing this rule. Your voice matters, and even a short message can make a difference.
You can submit your comment through the federal rulemaking portal by going here and clicking on the blue comment box.
You are welcome to write your own message or you may copy and paste this text into the comment box:
I oppose the National Park Service proposal that would rescind wildlife protection rules governing hunting practices in Alaska’s national preserves.
In particular, I strongly oppose allowing bear baiting on lands managed by the National Park Service. Bear baiting involves placing piles of human food in the environment to lure bears to predictable locations where they can be easily killed. This practice artificially manipulates wildlife behavior and encourages bears to associate human activity with food. It’s dangerous for people and deadly for bears.
Research shows that human food sources are one of the primary drivers of dangerous human-bear conflicts. Allowing baiting in areas managed by the National Park Service increases the risk that bears will become food-conditioned and approach campsites, trails, and other areas used by park visitors.
National parks and preserves should protect natural ecological processes, not facilitate practices designed to make killing predators easier. Allowing bait stations also undermines the National Park Service’s conservation mission and the public’s expectation that wildlife in national parks will be protected.
For these reasons, I urge the National Park Service to maintain the existing prohibition on bear baiting and other predator-killing practices in Alaska’s national preserves.
Every Comment Counts
Federal agencies must review public comments before issuing a final rule. The more people who speak out, the stronger the case for protecting wildlife.
Please take a few minutes today to submit a comment and help ensure that America’s national parks remain places where wildlife is protected and natural ecosystems can thrive. Please act now. The comment period closes on April 9, 2026. Don’t wait. Please act today.
Thank you for standing with us to protect bears and other wildlife.