The “Don’t Feed the Bears Act of 2003” (H.R. 1472)

The Society for Animal Protective Legislation (SAPL) supports H.R. 1472, the “Don’t Feed the Bears Act of 2003.”  There is no justification for allowing the unsportsmanlike practice of bear baiting to continue on any Federal lands.

Passage of H.R. 1472 would ensure that existing regulations prohibiting individuals from feeding bears to facilitate bear hunting will be enforced on National Park Service and wildlife refuge lands.  It also would expand the application of these regulations to lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management and in the National Forest System.  This nationwide prohibition would provide a valuable, appropriate measure of uniformity across all Federal lands.  It also sends a clear communication to the American public who will no longer get a mixed message about feeding bears – that such feeding is not permissible for human amusement or bear nourishment but is permissible in the course of bear hunting.

Bear baiting is bad for bears and creates a dangerous situation for people.  The use of tempting bait, including human food, conditions bears to seek these same foods whether they are set out by hunters or are contained in people’s cars or cabins.  This leads to increased human-bear conflict, and these bears may injure humans in their search for the enticing food to which they have become accustomed. 

Bear baiting is unnecessary.  Of the 27 states that allow bear hunting, only nine (Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Maine and New Hampshire) allow bear baiting.  Clearly, disallowing bear baiting does not have any impact on the activities of lawful bear hunters in the majority of bear hunting states where the practice is rightly outlawed.

Indeed, many individual states are moving away from baiting including Colorado, Oregon, and Washington, all of which banned the practice in recent years.  Other states, which allow bear hunting but prohibit baiting, are increasingly vigilant in enforcing their state laws.  For instance, the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources arrested ten people in late 1999 after a concerned citizen provided a tip that bait stations had been set up for bears.

Bear baiting is a dangerous, outdated and unnecessary practice that is harmful for bears and people.  The Society for Animal Protective Legislation urges Congress to pass H.R. 1472 and prohibit bear baiting on all Federal lands.

Please contact your Senators and Representative and urge her/him to cosponsor this important legislation.  To find your member click here.

---

For More Information:

- Legislative Information provided by the Library of Congress. Search Congressional records and legislation for current and previous years.  Find your member of Congress and their contact information.

Please visit the Animal Welfare Institute's website for more information about this and many other important issues.