Skip to main contentIt's become a tradition in Oregon. In a couple of months, thousands of black bears will wake up hungry after their long winter naps. Since berries aren't yet ripe, many will reach for another sugar- and carbohydrate-infused breakfast and claw the bark off young trees to fill their bellies.
Then, the U.S. Department of Wildlife Services will kill them.
Since the late 1980s, wildlife officials have been setting leg-hold traps in stands of young trees on private and public land all over Oregon. They check the traps every few days from April to June, shooting any bears they find alive. If a trapped bear has cubs nearby, Wildlife Services' policy is to kill the cubs as well. Each year, they kill about 120 bears this way.
The practice has drawn criticism not just from animal-rights activists but also from some hunters. That's because the feds are killing bears at the request of timber owners upset over the loss of thousands of trees on private land.
"This is pretty egregious," fumes Portland hunter Al Thieme. "They can just kill whatever they want to."
The Virginia native enjoys hunting, but his barrel gets bent out of shape when it comes to killing something to protect a timber owner's bottom line. "Any corporation should plan on having certain losses," Thieme protests. "Why aren't these services being paid for directly? These funds come from you and me."
Indeed, according to the Animal Protection Institute, U.S. taxpayers shell out $20 million to subsidize the killing of 100,000 predators every year.
In Oregon, Wildlife Services spends $101,000 a year on its bear-killing program. That's more than timber owners can show that they lose from the tree maulings, says Brenna Bell of the Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center. Although timber companies claim about $290,000 per year in damages, Bell says they can only confirm $97,000 of that.
Wildlife officials have no plans to change their policies, but in response to protests by groups such as the Sierra Club and the Animal Protection Institute, the feds have given the public a chance to comment on the practice and suggest alternatives. The deadline for such comments is Friday, Feb. 14. "We're at a point where our investment with assisting timber companies has plateaued," says David Williams, Oregon's Wildlife Services director. "We felt it was appropriate to go out to the public and say, 'Here's a problem, and here's how we deal with it.'"
Send your comments and suggestions by Feb. 14 to USDA/Wildlife Services, 6135 NE 80th Ave., Suite A8, Portland, OR 97218. Fax: 503-326-2367. Wildlife Services has indicated that it will not accept comments by email.
WWeek 2015