Interior Department Finalizes Rule Letting Hunters Bait Bears on Alaska's Federal Lands

The Trump administration has issued a rule that lets hunters on federal lands in Alaska lure bears with human foods such as bacon, doughnuts and meat scraps. The practice is used to help hunters kill trophy animals at close range. Opponents warn it will leave bears more aggressive around people, and they describe the change as a political favor to trophy hunters.

The US interior department published the rule in the federal register on Friday, and it will take effect in mid-November. It replaces a 2024 Biden administration rule that prohibited baiting. Environmental groups have called the new measure "indefensible and inexcusable".

Drew Robertson, senior regulatory specialist for Humane World for Animals, said his group was dismayed to see the rule return. He called the baiting provision "cruel and dangerous, not only to wildlife but the public as well".

Interior secretary Doug Burgum said in a press release that the rule responds to demands from Alaska residents. He described it as a "commonsense framework" that gives Alaskans "a stronger voice in decisions affecting the lands, wildlife and traditions they know best".

The federal rule does not name specific foods. Instead it defers to state regulations, which permit baiting. Nicholas Arrivo, a managing attorney at Animal Protection Law, said hunters generally choose "the cheapest and most effective food, which is high fat and high sugar". He explained that hunters usually place the food in a steel drum or garbage can, keep watch over it, and then shoot the bear at short range from a nearby blind.

Critics say the method raises wider questions about the spirit of sport hunting. Robertson said it is "a more extreme practice than the hunting traditions that people think of, and many hunters would not see this as a fair chase".

The rule follows other recent moves by Alaska and federal officials to permit contested hunting methods. These include shooting bears from helicopters, shooting swimming caribou from motor boats, killing wolf pups in their dens, and using artificial lights to draw bears out of dens. Bear baiting itself is not especially unusual, since about a dozen states allow similar practices, though more states do not.

The change stems from an executive order signed by Donald Trump early in his second administration, titled Unleashing Alaska's Extraordinary Resource Potential. Robertson argued that because the order directed the rule to be reissued, it points to a political motive rather than careful consideration.

The issue has a long history. Barack Obama's administration first imposed a ban, and the first Trump administration reversed it. Litigation upheld the Obama rule and overturned the Trump rule. The Biden administration reinstated the ban in 2024, largely because science indicates baiting makes bears more aggressive and endangers park visitors.

Arrivo rejected the argument that the rule gives the state appropriate control, noting that the lands are federal and Congress created the federal land program to place decision-making power with the federal government. He said the approach "is anathema to federal land management goals" of preserving wildlife diversity. No decision has been made on a lawsuit, but he said scrapping the 2024 rule, which went through a more robust scientific process, "doesn't smell right and raises questions about the legality of this rule".