November 14, 2004 in Outdoors

Alaska voters turn down ban on baiting

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A ballot measure to outlaw bear-baiting in Alaska apparently came down to a debate over which side represented the true Alaskan.

On Nov. 2, the state’s voters sided with the small number of hunters who use bait to lure bears within shooting range. A similar measure was approved by Washington voters in the 1990s.

The rejection of Ballot Measure 3 came as no surprise to ban opponents, including Mike Fleagle, chairman of the Alaska Board of Game. He called the vote an indication that “Alaska is finally realizing we can’t bend over backwards to these animal welfare groups that are trying to force their way of thinking on us.”

Bear baiting — putting out food as a lure — is illegal in 41 states. Idaho allows baiting for black bears. Hunters in Alaska can use bait only to hunt black bears, not grizzlies.

The initiative was sponsored by Citizens United Against Bear Baiting, which had a 12-member board that included local hunters, an Alaska Native, a bear-viewing guide and a member and former member of the Alaska Board of Game.

“We are an Alaskan organization, formed by Alaskans for Alaskans,” said John Toppenberg, executive director of the Alaska Wildlife Alliance, a grassroots group formed in 1978 that was CUBB’s main source of support.

But Alaskans for Professional Wildlife, a political action committee that successfully fought the initiative, cast the measure as an attack on the Alaska way of life. The theme resonated with Alaskans, who pride themselves in being independent thinkers who do it their way, regardless of what people in the Lower 48 think.

“Alaska’s heritage is at stake,” declares a mailing from the group, which includes state-based groups such as the Alaska Outdoor Council and the Alaska Trappers Association, and national groups such as the National Rifle Association.

Alaska has between 100,000 and 200,000 black bears. Baiting accounts for about 20 percent of approximately 2,100 black bears hunted and killed annually. About 1,300 permits are issued each year, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

The department contends bear baiting is a useful wildlife management tool, particularly in areas of Alaska where dense vegetation makes it difficult to get close enough to get a good shot.

“If done right, hunting black bears over bait can be productive, exciting and inoffensive to others,” according to the state Fish and Game Web site.

Opponents contend the measure was “proposed by out-of-state extremists like Greenpeace and PETA.”

Alaskans for Professional Wildlife Management spent nearly $500,000 to defeat the ban. It painted the measure as having too many unintended consequences, such as stiff fines and jail sentences for attracting bears to bird feeders.

Backers of the ban disputed that and other statements in their opponents’ advertising campaign, complaining that the flood of money from outside Alaska tipped the election.

“I can’t say I’m too surprised (at the results) because of all the money put into this by the outside fellows, and all the untruths they’ve told,” initiative sponsor Lowell Thomas Jr. told the Anchorage Daily News. Thomas, a bush pilot and former Alaska state senator and lieutenant governor, is one of the state’s leading wildlife conservationists.

But the battle over baiting isn’t over, he said. “This business just has to be abolished.”

Thomas and hunting guides John Erickson of Hoonah and George Pollard of Kasilof started the initiative effort last year, saying they put the question before voters because the Alaska Board of Game had refused to ban the practice.

Baiters leave out pastries, grease and other aromatic foods to entice black bears into an opening, where they can be killed.

Proponents of the ban also called baiting unsafe, because it gives bears a taste for human food that can lead to conflicts with humans.

Hunters who use bait maintained the practice is ethical, saying it gives hunters a clear view of the target and a clean shot. It is particularly valuable in areas where thick brush makes it hard to stalk bears using traditional methods. Some guides use bait to provide their clients a sure shot.

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