FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 29, 2026
Contact: Melissa Smith, Executive Director, Great Lakes Wildlife Alliance
(608) 234-8860 · msmith@wiwolvesandwildlife.org
Alaska’s Bear Baiting Rule Sparked Outrage. Wisconsin Does Worse Every Fall.
New report exposes toxic bait, relay hound packs, and hidden costs left out of the DNR’s 2026 bear season numbers
MADISON, Wis. — As the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) reports 4,275 bears killed in the 2026 season, the Great Lakes Wildlife Alliance (GLWA) has published an investigative report on what the state’s numbers leave out.
The report comes days after the Trump administration finalized a rule reopening Alaska’s national preserves to bear baiting, drawing national outrage. Wisconsin goes further: it allows both baiting and hound hunting of bears on public forests every year.
The report documents:
- A multi-million dollar toxic bait industry. Millions of pounds of industrial food waste, grease, and chocolate containing theobromine, which is lethal to bears and dogs, are dumped in Wisconsin’s forests. The DNR has the authority to restrict toxic bait and refuses to act.
- Relay hound packs and the “one license” loophole. Only the person who kills the bear needs a license. Parties of unlicensed handlers swap in fresh packs of six dogs when the first pack tires.
- Hidden heat mortality. Bears were chased by hounds in 71°F-plus weather during a severe drought, with forest wetlands and wallows dried up. The DNR does not track bears that die of heat exhaustion after a chase.
- Taxpayers covering hound losses. Payouts for hunting dogs killed by wolves come from the state’s Endangered Resources Fund, which citizens support to protect rare wildlife. Wolves were confirmed in 22 hunting dog depredations in 2026.
- Biosecurity failures. Out-of-state hound trucks enter public lands with no health certificate checks and no verification of leptospirosis or rabies vaccinations.
“The DNR’s press release tells you how many bears were killed. It leaves out the science,” said Melissa Smith, Executive Director of the Great Lakes Wildlife Alliance. “The state enforces strict caps on wolves based on ‘social tolerance,’ while it props up bear numbers with bait and hounds to keep a legacy sporting lobby happy.”
GLWA is pursuing administrative petitions to close the extreme-heat loophole for hound hunting and to require biosecurity certification for out-of-state hounds.
Read the full report: Wisconsin’s Bear Hunt: What the DNR Leaves Out
About Great Lakes Wildlife Alliance
The Great Lakes Wildlife Alliance, operating as Friends of the Wisconsin Wolf & Wildlife, is a 100% volunteer 501(c)(3) based in Madison. It works for wolf and wildlife protection in Wisconsin and the Great Lakes region through litigation, regulatory petitions, investigative research, and records requests. GLWA takes no money from corporations or the government. www.wiwolvesandwildlife.org
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Melissa Smith Executive Director and Founder Great Lakes Wildlife Alliance Friends of the Wisconsin Wolf & Wildlife |
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So Wisconsin has so many guntoting incompetents running loose in forests that they have to help the cowards destroy the state’s ecosystem through cowardly bait poisoning, using dogs and every other sadistic thing they so they don’t get their delicate feelings hurt, right?