Don’t Feed the Bears Act of 2025

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4422 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4422

To require the adoption and enforcement of regulations to prohibit the 
 intentional feeding of bears on Federal public lands in order to end 
the hunting practice known as ``bear baiting'' and reduce the number of 
            dangerous interactions between people and bears.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 15, 2025

  Mr. Thanedar (for himself, Mr. Carson, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, and Ms. 
   Norton) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
  Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on 
Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 
 in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the 
                jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require the adoption and enforcement of regulations to prohibit the 
 intentional feeding of bears on Federal public lands in order to end 
the hunting practice known as ``bear baiting'' and reduce the number of 
            dangerous interactions between people and bears.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Don't Feed the Bears Act of 2025''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON FEEDING BEARS ON FEDERAL PUBLIC LANDS.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) Federal land management agencies, including the Forest 
        Service, National Park Service, United States Fish and Wildlife 
        Service, and Bureau of Land Management, publish and distribute 
        materials to the public discouraging any feeding of black 
        bears.
            (2) Even though Federal land managers are in agreement that 
        private citizens should not provide food to bears, several 
        Federal land management agencies do not prohibit licensed 
        hunters from setting out food as bait for bears on Federal 
        lands in States where baiting is permitted by State law.
            (3) A typical bait station consists of hundreds of pounds 
        of human-scented foods, often including parts of animal 
        carcasses, pastries, fruits, and grease, that are simply piled 
        on the forest floor or dumped in large drums.
            (4) The foods used in a bait station are no different than 
        the human-scented foods that a bear might find in a garbage 
        can, dump, or campground, and after the bear hunting season 
        ends, bait stations are often not removed.
            (5) The presence of bait stations on Federal lands allows 
        bears to increase their food intake and results in higher birth 
        rates, increasing bear populations.
            (6) Wildlife scientists agree that black bears are 
        naturally wary of people, but that feeding bears human-scented 
        foods can cause bears to lose their wariness and become 
        emboldened in approaching people and property in search of 
        food.
            (7) Human-fed bears cause millions of dollars in property 
        damage every year.
            (8) Bears habituated to human food can pose a safety 
        threat, occasionally resulting in attacks on human beings.
            (9) Bears that come into conflict with people are often 
        labeled as nuisance animals, and are often killed as a means of 
        protecting people and property.
            (10) When the National Park Service adopted policies to ban 
        bear feeding and to end the practice of keeping garbage in 
        open-air dumps, units of the National Park System experienced a 
        dramatic decline in bear-human encounters.
            (11) A majority of the States that allow bear hunting ban 
        baiting, and black bears can be hunted successfully by means 
        other than baiting.
            (12) It is inconsistent for Federal land management 
        agencies to demand that visitors to the Federal lands not feed 
        bears, but to allow this practice by bear baiters.
            (13) The United States already prohibits baiting of 
        migratory birds.
    (b) Enforcement of Existing Nps Regulation.--The Secretary of the 
Interior shall enforce the regulatory prohibition, contained in section 
2.2(a)(2) of title 36, Code of Federal Regulations, against the feeding 
of wildlife on National Park System lands to prohibit individuals from 
intentionally feeding bears for the purpose of enticing bears to a 
particular area to be hunted, a practice known as ``bear baiting''.
    (c) Enforcement of Existing Fws Regulation.--The Secretary of the 
Interior shall enforce the regulatory prohibition, contained in section 
32.2(h) of title 50, Code of Federal Regulations, against bear baiting 
and the baiting of other wildlife on wildlife refuge areas.
    (d) Adoption of Regulations for Other Public Lands.--
            (1) Regulation required.--The Secretary of the Interior, 
        with respect to lands administered by the Bureau of Land 
        Management, and the Secretary of Agriculture, with respect to 
        National Forest System lands, shall each adopt and enforce a 
        regulation to prohibit individuals from intentionally feeding 
        bears, including feeding for the purpose of enticing bears to a 
        particular area to be hunted, a practice known as ``bear 
        baiting''.
            (2) Deadline for adoption.--The regulations required by 
        this subsection shall be issued in final form not later than 
        one year after the date of the enactment of this Act.
    (e) Exception in Extraordinary Cases.--The regulations referred to 
in subsections (b) and (c), and the regulations required by subsection 
(d), shall provide an exception in extraordinary cases when the 
Secretary concerned determines that bear feeding is required for the 
welfare of the bear, preservation of public safety, or authorized 
wildlife research.
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