Alaska's Bears Learn the Oldest Rule in American Politics: There Is No Such Thing as a Free Doughnut

The National Park Service did something on Friday that every office manager in America already understood: if you want someone to come to you, leave doughnuts out. The difference is that at the office, nobody gets shot. Usually.

Under a final rule announced by the Interior Department, sport hunters will again be allowed to bait bears in Alaska's national preserves under state law. The New York Times summarized the method with the restraint of a menu: doughnuts soaked in bacon grease, then shooting at close range. It is the first federal policy in years that a bear could read and immediately understand.

This is not a new idea. It is a returning one. Baiting was allowed from 1982, banned in 2015, allowed again in 2020, banned again in 2024, and is now allowed again, effective November 18. A bear that dozed off in 2015 has woken up, in order, protected, edible, protected again, and now a breakfast special. Cable news panels have shown more consistency, and they are paid not to.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the rule "gives Alaskans a stronger voice in decisions affecting the lands, wildlife and traditions they know best." The bears, who are also Alaskans, were not polled. Their voice remains a growl, which Washington has never accepted as public comment.

The agency insists the stakes are modest. It expects no more than 10 bears a year, two black and up to eight brown, to be taken over bait across all the preserves. Ten bears is not a wildlife policy. It is a dinner party. It took three presidents, a lawsuit and the Federal Register to cater it.

There are rules, naturally. Alaska requires permits, registered bait stations, minimum distances from roads, trails and homes, and a baiting clinic. Somewhere in Anchorage, grown adults are taking a class on how to arrange pastries for an apex predator. It is culinary school for chefs whose customers outweigh the kitchen.

Critics were not charmed. Jim Adams of the National Parks Conservation Association called the rule "outrageous" and said allowing sport hunters to "lure bears with greased donut bait piles to kill them on those lands is baffling and counter to the mission of the Park Service." Kitty Block of Humane World for Animals described "piles of doughnuts, meat scraps and dog food" and called the policy "indefensible and inexcusable." Her group is weighing a court challenge. So the bears may soon have lawyers, which is more than most Americans get after a doughnut.

The agency wrote that baiting has been regulated "since 1982 with no evidence of notable public safety incidents or population-level impacts." Conservationists warn that bears will learn to associate people with food. Humans made that same association decades ago and called it the drive-thru.

The timing is its own dessert. The rule arrives 18 days before Alaska's hotly contested Senate race, and neither campaign immediately commented. Silence is wise. In Alaska, no candidate wants to be on the record for or against doughnuts.

Every office worker in America knows the box in the break room is never really free. Starting November 18, Alaska's bears get the same memo, minus the memo.