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Dear friend,
It saddens me that bears are under attack in a dozen states across our union.
Bear-baiting season opens this week in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Other states that allow this unsporting practice will soon open their seasons, too.
Trophy hunting guides set up dump sites of food on our federal lands and lure bears in with barrels full of old pizza, jelly doughnuts, grease, and meat scraps. And then they give the signal to fee-paying hunters to shoot the unsuspecting animals in the back with an arrow or a rifle.
Typically, it’s a guaranteed kill. No kill, no pay.
I don’t call that hunting. I call it an ambush.
The poor creatures don’t have a chance. And it’s all for a trophy.
According to a recent investigation from Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy, there are 10,000 bears shot over bait sites on our federal lands, mostly in the fall, when bears are preparing for hibernation. (A few states allow bear baiting in the spring when mother bears have dependent cubs, dooming the entire family group.)
That’s right: bait piles are being hauled into some of America’s most treasured landscapes so that bears — black bears and, in Alaska, even grizzlies — can be gunned down with their rumps and backs exposed as their heads are buried in a heap of odorous, rotting food.
So we are sounding the alarm and shining a spotlight on the activity. The U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management tell hikers, campers, and other forest users to “never feed bears.” But they are allowing trophy hunters and guides to put out millions of pounds of food for bears just to shoot them.
A Call to End Bear Baiting on Federal Lands
In July, U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Mich., introduced the Don’t Feed the Bears Act of 2025 (H.R. 4422), a federal bill to prohibit bear baiting on public lands managed by federal agencies, including the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, and other federal land managers.
More than 220 organizations, representing animal protection and conservation, are backing this commonsense reform. And we are proud to be joined by a growing set of hunters who are fed up with the practice of other hunters feeding bears and shooting them while they take their last meal. Hunting should not feature garbage heaps and rigged kills like this.
“Baiting bears is an unfair method of hunting that exploits the natural instincts of bears,” said Rep. Thanedar in introducing this legislation. “By introducing bears to human food, the animals become more likely to enter residential areas, endangering humans and their property. I am proud to play a part in preserving our wildlife and protecting the natural order of our ecosystems.”
He's hardly alone in having a gut instinct that something is amiss with bear baiting on our federal lands.
“Baiting orphans cubs. Baiting is not hunting at all as it requires no woodsmanship skills and no empathy for the game,” said Dave Petersen, a lifelong hunter and editor of “A Hunter’s Heart.” “Baiting is a crutch for fakers and losers. Baiting gives honorable hunting a bad name.”
Ted Williams, winner of the prestigious Circle of Chiefs award from the Outdoor Writers Association of America, wrote a compelling news story for Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy. “ Garbaging for Bears [[link removed]] ” exposes how bear baiting defies the norms of ethical hunting and responsible wildlife management.
Defending a Critical National Park Service Rule in Alaska
The Don’t Feed the Bears Act builds upon a landmark 2024 federal rulemaking by the National Park Service that banned bear baiting on 20 million acres of national preserves in Alaska — a rule that trophy hunters are urging the Trump administration to overturn.
The Park Service was unequivocal in its explanation for the need for the rule:
This rule will lower the probability of visitors encountering a bait station where bears may attack to defend a food source. Further, this rule will lower the risk that bears will associate food at bait stations with humans and become conditioned to eating human-produced foods, thereby creating a public safety concern.
The idea that such baiting was ever allowed on National Park Service land defies reason and good sense.
Bear baiting remains legal now in 13 states, and in at least eight of those, it’s permitted on federal lands, mainly national forests and Bureau of Land Management holdings. The victims are not only the 10,000 bears directly killed over bait sites, but also the cubs left behind to die of starvation after spring hunts result in the shooting of lactating mothers.
Let’s be clear: this is not a referendum on hunting. It’s a call to end one of the most indefensible hunting methods still allowed on our public lands.
Please write your federal lawmakers today in support of the Don’t Feed the Bears Act to end bear baiting on our federal lands. [[link removed]]

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Wayne Pacelle [[link removed]] Wayne Pacelle
President
Center for a Humane Economy
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