Bear feeding ban dropped

[Lee Borgersen]

          Bear feeding ban dropped from Game and Fish bill

REGIONAL— A provision that would have prohibited the feeding of wild bears in Minnesota in most situations won’t be enacted into law this year, according to Sen. Matt Schmit, a DFLer from southeastern Minnesota who was carrying the Game and Fish bill this year for the Department of Natural Resources.


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The DNR had urged the ban, citing public safety concerns, but the provision proved controversial as word of the provision spread to the public.

Schmit said the DNR routinely offers a proposed game and fish bill, which legislators typically add to or subtract from during the course of the legislative session. This year, Schmit said it’s not clear that the Legislature will even approve a new game and fish law, but even if it does, the bear-feeding ban won’t be part of it.

“We need to have a more thorough airing of this section,” said Schmit, who acknowledged hearing from a number of people with concerns about a possible ban.

He said he planned to offer an amendment to his bill soon that would strip out the bear feeding prohibition. The Minnesota House has already removed the bear feeding provision from its version of the Game and Fish bill, so there’s little likelihood that the provision would wind up in whatever final version emerges from an end-of-session conference committee.

The bill ran into pushback from a number of sources, including supporters of Lynn Rogers and his Wildlife Research Institute, as well as supporters of the Vince Shute Wildlife Sanctuary. Both facilities have engaged in bear feeding in different ways, either to conduct research or attract visitors. Rogers, who said he was pleased with the outcome, credited Rep. David Dill, DFL-Crane Lake, for getting the ban stripped from House bill earlier.

While the measure could come back in the future, Schmit said that’s not certain. “It’s not clear to me that the DNR will ask us to carry this next year,” he said.