Purpose: This bill would prohibit the intentional feeding of bears on Federal public lands in order to end the hunting practice known as “bear baiting” and reduce the number of dangerous interactions between people and bears.
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Status: In House Committee on Resources. Subcommittee Hearings Held. *Note: Since this bill was introduced, 26 sponsors withdrew their co-sponsorship, some as soon as a day after they announced their co-sponsorship. While we are not sure what caused this dramatic “change of heart,” we may speculate that perhaps some heavily moneyed lobbyists put pressure on legislators to not support this bill.
Action: SUPPORT. “Bear baiting,” commonly used by hunters, attracts bears to bait stations where hundreds of pounds of human-scented foods are simply piled on the forest floor or dumped in large drums. When the bear arrives to eat the bait, the hunter, often hiding in a tree or out of sight elsewhere, shoots the animal at point-blank range. Besides being unsporting, bear baiting also habituates bears to seek human-scented foods in garbage cans, at dumps, and at campgrounds, thus presenting a danger to humans.