These bear cubs deserve to grow up safe and sound

In recent years, hunters have shot Alaska’s brown bears from helicopters, or even while in hibernation. Now they’re killing cubs too.

Bears in the Tongass National Forest
USDA via Flickr | Public Domain

Each year, hundreds of thousands of us tune in to Fat Bear Week, a contest to crown the fattest brown bear in Alaska’s Katmai National Park.

But this delightful event obscures a grim reality. When they aren’t happily gorging on salmon, Alaska’s brown bears may be hunted and killed. The National Park Service (NPS) even permits sport hunters to kill baby bears in their dens.

That’s just plain wrong. Let’s tell the Park Service to ban the slaughter of helpless bear cubs in Alaska in national preserves.

Brutal hunting threatens Alaska’s brown bears and their cubs

For centuries, hunters have been killing North America’s brown bears for sport. Today, Alaska is the only remaining place on the continent where they survive in large numbers.

In recent years, however, Alaska has gone to extreme and brutal measures to cull its brown bears. The most infamous example was in 2023, when shooters used shotguns fired from helicopters to slaughter 99 bears — including 20 cubs — in just a few days.

The state claimed that the killings would protect Alaska’s caribou — without scientific evidence. Then, park officials killed 81 more bears this past summer.

Take action to protect bear cubs from hunting

In 2020, the NPS removed many restrictions on hunting bears in Alaska national preserves. That included ending a rule that protected cubs or mother bears from being hunted.

Now, hunters can kill bear cubs at will, even during the hibernation season.

Alaska’s bears aren’t trophies. They are mighty, fearsome and corpulent giants, which is why so many thousands of us celebrate them during Fat Bear Week. The event shows off bears as they should be — happily fulfilling their natural purpose by munching berries and fattening up for a long winter.

Join the movement to keep Alaska’s bears free, fat and feasting by telling the National Park Service to ban the hunting of bear cubs and mothers.

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