The United States Congress has revoked the ban on hunting predators introduced under Obama, even permitting animals to be shot from aircraft and cubs to be killed in their dens.
Alaska's large predators, such as grizzly bears, black bears, wolves, foxes and coyotes, are in grave danger and may be killed using inhumane and cruel methods. The United States Congress has approved a measure that authorises the hunting of these predators even within Alaska's sixteen national parks.
The measure, passed by 52 votes to 47 in the Senate after clearing the House of Representatives by 225 votes to 193, will allow the killing of large predators living across the approximately 30.7 million hectares of the state's federal wildlife refuges. Animals may be hunted using bait and traps, such as steel-jaw traps and wire snares, and may be shot from aircraft. It will even be legal to enter animals' dens and kill mothers along with entire litters.
All that is now needed for the new law to come into force is the signature of United States President Donald Trump, who could thereby overturn the previous measure adopted by former President Barack Obama, which protected wildlife. The legislation currently in force, the Alaska National Wildlife Refuges Rules, does not permit so-called "predator control" in the 16 parks in Alaska. The president has already stated that "the environment is important, but not if it stops progress," making it unlikely that he would oppose the new hunting law.
The reopening of predator hunting in Alaska's parks represents, according to environmentalists, an enormous step backwards for wildlife conservation. "This resolution undermines science-based wildlife management and the premise underlying public lands as places for the conservation of biodiversity," declared Alli Harvey of the environmental organisation Sierra Club. "The Senate's decision represents an outrage to the conscience of every animal lover in America," said Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States (Hsus), with regret.