05.22.18

The Trump Administration Proposes to Roll Back Ban on “Extreme” Hunting Tactics in Alaska’s National Parks

Washington, D.C. – The Department of the Interior (DOI) announced yesterday that the National Park Service (NPS) is proposing to roll back a commonsense 2015 rule that protects wildlife in national preserves in Alaska from cruel hunting practices. The rule that the Trump administration wants to reverse prohibits the use of barbaric hunting practices, including shooting black bears and cubs in their dens, trapping wolves and wolf pups during denning season, using bait to hunt brown bears and hunting swimming caribou. Last year, President Trump and the Republican Congress repealed a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) rule that prohibited several ways to kill predators, including a prohibition on the aerial hunting of bears and wolves, on 16 federally owned national wildlife refuges in Alaska. The Republican House Resolution (H.J. Res. 69) passed the House and Senate and was signed into law by President Trump in April 2017.

Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) spoke out against the rollback of the NPS rule:

“The Trump administration and Republicans in Congress continue their growing assault on our wildlife.  These unsportsmanlike practices defy the advice of scientists and ignore years of research supporting this rule. These inhumane tactics do not belong in our national parks. I wouldn’t be surprised if this reversal is being rushed through the approval process simply to make it easier for members of the President’s family and their wealthy, trophy-hunting friends to decorate their vacation homes with more dead animals.”

Defenders of Wildlife and the National Parks Conservation Association have spoken out against the proposed NPS rule reversal. 

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Diane Padilla

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