The Trump administration on Monday proposed rolling back a 2015 rule that bans aggressive predator control tactics in national preserves in Alaska, including shooting bear cubs and wolf pups in their dens ― a move immediately blasted by environmental groups. The proposal, slated to be published Tuesday in the Federal Register, would amend the National Park Service’s current regulations to again allow for controversial sport hunting and trapping techniques on roughly 20 million acres of federal lands in Alaska. “Allowing the killing of bear cubs and wolf pups in their dens is barbaric and inhumane. “The conservation of wildlife and habitat for future generations is a goal we share with Alaska,” agency regional director Bert Frost said. The proposal comes a little more than a year after Congress approved a measure to repeal an Obama-era rule that largely banned hunting of Alaska’s most iconic predators in Alaska’s national wildlife refuges.

Source: Huffington Post May 21, 2018 22:18 UTC