Trump administration moves to reverse Obama-era protections for bears in Alaska

A black bear and its cub in Alaska.
(Image credit: AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

On Monday, the National Park Service announced it intends to allow hunters on some public lands in Alaska to lure brown bears with bacon and use spotlights to shoot mother black bears and cubs while they are hibernating in their dens.

In 2015, the Obama administration outlawed such hunting methods on federal lands, much to the dismay of big-game hunting organizations like the Safari Club. In March, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke appointed several members of the Safari Club and other trophy hunters to a board that is advising him on how to conserve threatened and endangered wildlife. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game's Maria Gladziszewski told The Associated Press that her agency is "pleased to see the National Park Service working to better align federal regulations with state of Alaska hunting and trapping regulations."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.