Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) introduced a bill, House Resolution 2532, that could lead to a near-complete ban on hunting grizzly bears in all of the United States except for Alaska. The bill remains in consideration by the Water, Oceans and Wildlife committee.
The new legislation would impanel a Grizzly Bear Scientific Committee that would determine if a person can request a permit to use lethal force to kill a grizzly bear. Permits would only be issued in extreme circumstances.
“Congressman Grijalva’s legislation is a near total ban on the take of a grizzly bear regardless of need. His bill is so full of red tape and hoops to jump through that a state has virtually no hope of eliminating a dangerous bear,” said Bruce Tague, the Sportsmen’s Alliance vice president of government affairs.
“Further, HR 2532 ignores the scientific feedback from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and state fish and wildlife agencies who have concluded that grizzly bear numbers have exceeded their recovery goals in many parts of their range,” said Tague.
Under the proposed system, the Secretary of the Interior would have the sole authority to issue grizzly bear permits, taking the matter completely out of states’ hands. The committee would review each request on a case-by-case basis.
The proposal would enlist 18 members to review cases. Six of the members would come from states with grizzly bear populations, another six would come from Native American tribes from the same regions and the remaining six would represent agencies within the Department of the Interior.
Permits to take grizzly bear will only be issued for scientific or zoological purposes, tribal purposes pertaining to religious ceremonies, and in cases where a specific bear is posing a threat to public safety or agriculture such as ranching or farming.
See Also: California Bear Hunting Down, Population Bigger than Ever
Even in public safety cases permits to use lethal force would only be allowed if non-lethal methods were tried and failed. For instance, if a grizzly bear is threatening a human population, wildlife management must first try non-lethal animal control methods to relocate the bear to a less populated area, and if that fails, a special lethal force request must be endorsed by every Native American tribe in the region as well as the state’s governor in writing.
The bill expressly forbids all forms of grizzly bear hunting for sport and violators of the new law would be subject to the same civil and criminal penalties as a person who killed an animal on the Endangered Species List.
Due to the severe penalties associated with the bill as well as the near-complete ban on killing grizzly bears the Sportsmen’s Alliance is calling on its members to take action against this proposal along with hunters and outdoors enthusiasts everywhere.
The bill was introduced last month and was heard by the committee on May 15. We will keep you up-to-date on the progress of this far-reaching legislation.
If a member of the Crow tribe harvested an animal on Crow land there is no violation of ANY kind especially according to ANY NON NATIVE AMERICAN rule or regulation. Sincerely, Darrell R Bacon, partial Native American heritage by blood.. FULL BLOODED AMERICAN by birthright, backbone and attitude. Thank you.
I live in MT and these very large Predators are in my back yard. For the most part they get into what ever they want to. My neighbor has had his tack and feed room door ripped of the hinges twice in last month. USFW has tried to trap this critter only to make it move to the other neighbors house and kill some goats, and now they are back again.Looks like a prominent individual ( i.e. Politician or their kid ) will have to get eaten to take action… think we could populate North AZ where they used to live millions of years ago… we have more than enough here in MT, sure the black bears would appreciate some help from these overwhelming odds they face too. So much for being a constituent … now I am just a subject living on the Kings land
C J
What the hell is Arizona doing electing a communist Demotard in the first place? Get rid of him immediately. Either recall or impeach. The Dim’s have absalutely destroyed every district they’ve ever been elected in and now they’re trying to spread their carnige elsewhere. Arizona, please do everything possible to keep the communist Demotards from spreading elsewhere.
this turd is from a predominately democrat district he loves illegal aliens always whining about sheriff joe being racist what can i say a lot of California scumbags and Mexican scumbags taking over here our state is turning purple i mean for god sake we put Kirsten scenema in the senate.i would love to see grizzlies back in the white mountains and blue river country . but it will never happen ranching has a strong interests here.
Hey Raul Grijalva, Legislate on something you have knowledge of! Try to do something to make Arizona Great Again.
As per usual, a useless Dem lawmaker trying to take away additional freedoms enjoyed by the American hunter. Grizzlys ARE NOT on the endangered species list, the Grizzly population is classified as “stable”. I’ve never heard of Grizzlys even in Arizona so why is this AZ Congressman involved? Concern yourself with your district, Congressman. Yet another demonstration of a bureaucrat attempting to make it APPEAR like he’s doing SOMETHING, when in reality, he’s just part of the do-nothing, accomplish nothing, 2019 U.S. Congress!!
Between indians kiiling elk and then selling the antlers for cash out of season. And given special rights to do it on our national forest now any time they well PLEASE. And a liberal democrat from ARizona trying to outlaw grizzly bear hunting
In the lower 48 where and the hell does the future of hunting stand. Reading that makes me sick.