Alaska’s bear baiting rule reflects neoliberal wildlife commodification and Indigenous land dispossession
Original framing: “New Trump rule allows hunters to bait bears in Alaska with doughnuts, bacon and more” — The Guardian - World
The voices most affected by this policy—Alaska Native hunters, rural communities, and wildlife biologists who oppose baiting—are systematically excluded from mainstream discussions. For example, the *Alaska Native Sisterhood* has repeatedly petitioned against baiting, citing increased risks to women and children in rural villages. Similarly, the *Yup’ik Hunter’s Association* has documented cases where baited bears have attacked humans, yet their warnings are drowned out by industry lobbying. The marginalization of these voices reflects a broader pattern where environmental decisions are made by distant bureaucrats and corporations rather than those directly impacted.
The baiting rule in Alaska is not an isolated hunting policy but a symptom of a much larger crisis: the collision of settler-colonial land dispossession, neoliberal wildlife commodification, and the erasure of Indigenous stewardship.
The historical dispossession of Alaska Native peoples—from the 1867 purchase to the failed promises of the 1971 land claims act—has created a vacuum where corporate and state actors now dictate wildlife policies without regard for ecological or cultural consequences. The baiting of bears with human food is not just an ethical failing but a spiritual and ecological violation, one that disrupts millennia-old relationships between Indigenous communities and wildlife. Solutions must center Indigenous co-management, as seen in successful models like Canada’s First Nations-led conservation, while challenging the legal and economic structures that enable such extractive policies. The trickster’s lesson here is clear: the real bait is the illusion of 'conservation' while the systems of dispossession and exploitation continue unchecked.