JUNEAU, Alaska -- Scorned by animal rights groups and reviled by some hunters, the practice of bear baiting is under the gun in Alaska from an odd mix of conservationists and professional hunters.
The state Board of Game has dismissed repeated requests over the years to outlaw the practice of luring black bears with human food.
So foes this year are seeking a ballot initiative to let voters decide the issue.
"The whole idea of using bait to attract bears, I don't think it's fair. Not really a civilized thing," said Lowell Thomas Jr., a former lieutenant governor and one of the backers of the initiative.
Thomas, who says he only shoots animals with a camera, said he was asked to take up the initiative by conservationists intent on ending the practice.
Black bears lured by bait stations account for about 18% of the 2,500 bears killed by hunters each year, the state Department of Fish and Game said. Many hunters look down on the practice, although hunting groups in Alaska say it shouldn't be outlawed.
Less revered and more abundant than the giant grizzly and brown bear that wander Alaska's backcountry, black bears are taken both for their meat and as trophies.
State Fish and Game biologists have no good estimates on the number of black bears in Alaska, but say the population is well over 100,000.
Alaska is among nine states that allow hunters to maintain bait stations in remote areas of public lands. The others are Idaho, Utah, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Wyoming. In addition, Arkansas allows bear baiting on private land.
The Humane Society of the United States and the Friends of Animals are trying to organize a referendum to ban bear baiting in Maine. Voters in Colorado, Oregon and Washington have also banned the practice in recent years.
"It's not surprising wherever baiting occurs, it's enormously controversial," said Wayne Pacelle of the Humane Society. "It cannot withstand public scrutiny because it's so unfair to the bear and because it causes obvious conflicts between bears and humans."
Professional Alaskan guides George Pollard and John Erickson are also backing the initiative drive to outlaw bear baiting. Initiative supporters must gather more than 23,000 signatures to get the measure on the 2004 statewide ballot.
Both guides say the practice is unethical and risky, because offering bears human food conditions bears to consider humans as a food source.
