Guardians and allies notified the federal government today that they plan to legally challenge its authorization of bear baiting on National Forest System lands in Idaho and Wyoming. These practices violate the Endangered Species Act by causing harm to protected grizzly bears.
Bear baiters leave food out specifically to entice bears to an area. Hunters hide out and then shoot the bears when they arrive. Most western states have banned the practice, but Idaho and Wyoming still allow it on National Forest lands, even in protected grizzly bear habitat. Large numbers of grizzlies have been killed at black bear baiting stations in these two states, including the first grizzly to make it to Idaho’s Bitterroot region since 1949.
“Everyone knows that a fed bear is a dead bear,” said WildEarth Guardians Conservation Director Sarah McMillan. “This is why the public is asked to take steps to avoid leaving attractants and food at campsites in grizzly bear country. But in Idaho and Wyoming, individuals seeking to kill black bears can dump hundreds of pounds of donuts and other foods in these same forests to attract and kill bears. It makes no sense.”
Read the press release.
