Bear Baiting - Sample Letter to Your Legislator #2

(Remember to edit this letter and make it your own. Letters make a bigger impact on legislators if they are not identical to others.)

[Date]

Dear [Legislator’s Name],

I am writing to you today to ask you to help bring an end to one of the most unsporting practices that exists in hunting today: bear baiting.

Bear baiting is exactly what it sounds like. It consists of hunters setting out piles of garbage, donuts or other goodies to lure bears within rifle range. Some hunters will stuff a 55-gallon drum with rotting meat. One hunter’s bait station – consisting of part of a horse’s carcass stuffed into a barrel and head tied to a tree – was reported to rangers after a nearby resort became worried that the scene would attract bears and frighten guests.

It has been recognized that baiting encourages bears to attempt to obtain food from humans after the bait stations have been removed. Not only is the food hunters set out not nutritious for the bears who are not killed, it teaches then that human food is delicious and easy to obtain. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the U.S. Forest Service all publish materials telling the public to not feed the bears because fed bears will learn to look for food around humans and may have to be shot by wildlife personnel.

In a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the director of the Pacific Northwest Region of the Nation Park Service stated that, “Biologically, there is no difference between a bait station and a dump. Bait stations habituate bears to human-generated food, contributing to the potential for conflicts between bears and people in the park.” 

Allowing this unsporting practice is an inhumane way to treat wildlife and encourages bears to interact with humans in potentially dangerous ways. Banning bear baiting would not have an impact on the ability of hunters to continue hunting bears.

Thank you for your time and consideration of this important issue.

Sincerely,

[Name]
[Address]