LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – The following is from The BEAR League in response to Assembly Bill 1038 which was recently introduced by California Assembly Member Hadwick (R-Alturas): This bill would allow hunters to use GPS-collared dogs to chase and tree bears so that the hunters may kill the bear more easily than having to track it without dogs.  In a press release issued concurrently with the bill, Hadwick claimed that bears are out of control in California, and rural communities live in fear of their lives from bears.  Hadwick’s bill claims that the inability of houndsmen to pursue bears with dogs for the past decade has substantially contributed to California’s high black bear populations.  Hadwick has been falsely promoting the bill as a non-lethal means to manage black bear populations by claiming it only authorizes hazing of bear with dogs.  

BEAR League vigorously opposes AB 1038 because it is wrong.  Factually wrong, and ethically wrong.  

The opening line of AB 1038 claims that “California currently has more black bears than any other state in the nation.”  Alaska’s population of black bears is double California’s, demonstrating Hadwick’s ignorance of bear populations.  Hadwick claims the bill promotes non-lethal hazing of bears with dogs, but the bill explicitly states: “the commission may establish a bear hunting season during which a person may allow dogs to pursue a bear [ ] in any area determined by the commission.”  Hadwick is misleading the public.  This is a hunting bill, pure and simple, barely disguised as a bear management tool.    

Hadwick claims the black bear population in California has doubled, relying on the California Department of Fish & Wildlife’s draft Black Bear Conservation Plan.  But the draft plan states that there is “strong evidence that black bear populations have been stable” in California over the past decade and that “there is no evidence of any statistically credible population declines or increases” in the last ten years. In addition, there are hundreds of annual bear deaths from vehicle strikes, depredation permits and poaching.  Hadwick is simply using fear-mongering to reintroduce bear hounding in California.

Hadwick’s bill seeks to overturn Senate Bill 1221, signed in 2012, that prohibited the practice of bear hounding in California.  At the time that bill was signed, a Mason-Dixon poll revealed that 83 percent of California voters opposed the practice of bear hounding.  Watching what bear hounding looks like makes this statistic easy to believe.  YouTube is filled with videos of hunters filming themselves chasing bears with dogs and shooting the bears out of trees.  

This is not sport.  This is animal cruelty.  

While BEAR League is horrified that such videos exist, we believe it is important for the public to watch them to understand what AB 1038 is really about—the reintroduction of bear hunting with dogs in California.  

Warning:  this video is graphic.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SUfrVOYAfI

BEAR League urges all people to contact the Governor’s office and their local legislators, and specifically Assembly Member Hadwick at either (530) 223-6300 or (916) 319-2001, to let them know that bear hounding is cruel, and that AB 1038 is a misguided attempt to sneak bear hounding back into California law.  

–Ann Bryant Executive Director, The BEAR League