Over 1.2 million bears have been legally killed for trophies in North America in just the last 25 years, and more than 1 million of those deaths happened here in the United States.

These are living, intelligent, family-oriented animals—slaughtered for sport, ego, and wall-mounted prizes.

A new report from Humane World for Animals reveals the full scale of this cruelty. In states like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Maine, tens of thousands of bears have been gunned down—many of them mothers, leaving behind orphaned cubs to starve.

The killing peaks in spring, when bears are still weak from hibernation and newborns are at their most vulnerable.

The methods are horrific:

• Bears are baited with piles of sweets.
• Packs of dogs are unleashed to chase them for miles in a practice called “hounding.”
• Bowhunters wound bears and leave them to suffer slow deaths.
• In Alaska and Maine, traps are still legal, causing prolonged pain and panic.

This is not conservation. This is torture.

States claim bear hunting is for public safety, but there is no evidence it reduces the already rare risk of bear encounters.

What actually works? Securing trash, removing food attractants, and educating the public. Instead, agencies are promoting bear hunting while the public overwhelmingly wants it to end. Polls show that 76% of Americans oppose black bear trophy hunting.

And the cruelty doesn’t stop at our borders. U.S. hunters are now crossing into Canada to kill more bears, importing over 6,000 trophies a year.

We cannot allow this to continue. Black bears are being wiped out in silence while lawmakers look away.

We call on Congress and state wildlife agencies to ban black bear trophy hunting in the U.S., end the importation of bear trophies, and invest in real, humane solutions to prevent conflict between bears and humans.

Sign this petition if you believe bears deserve protection, not bullets. It’s time to end the cruelty. It’s time to save America’s bears.

Photo: Bowhunter