Governor signs bill reducing state regulation of Bear World

BOISE — Gov. Brad Little recently signed a bill into law, which reduces the Idaho Department of Fish and Game’s oversight of Yellowstone Bear World, as well as similar facilities.

Senate Bill 1084, which was proposed by Bear World advocates, reduces Fish and Game’s oversight of animal parks with a class C exhibitor’s license. This means that regulatory duties will now fall to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which grants and regulates the exhibitor’s license.

Proponents of the bill said this legislation merely eliminates unnecessary double regulation by state and federal agencies over animal parks and would allow Bear World to run its business without having to constantly look “over its shoulder.”

Opponents questioned leaving regulation to only the federal government and said that passing this bill would bring unintended consequences for animal parks in Idaho.

IDFG initially opposed the bill, but then took a neutral stance once it was amended to allow them to keep the authority to regulate and inspect deer species. This will allow them to keep track of chronic wasting disease, an illness that is fatal to deer, moose and elk.

Jonathan Oppenheimer, External Relations Director of the Idaho Conservation League, said they were confused by IDFG’s decision to take a neutral stance on the bill. Oppenheimer cited an internal IDFG email that was acquired through a public records request. In the email, Barry Cummings, IDFG Regional Conservation Officer, stated that because Bear World has so many bears, in the USDA’s routine visits to the facility the count that they take on how many bears are at the park could be off by 10.

“This gets to the importance of accurate accounting and inventory of animals in the event of an escape. For instance, a hole in the fence. How many bears do you have? Well, we have either 20 or 30 or 40 or 50. That makes a big difference,” Oppenheimer said.

In 2016, a wolf escaped Bear World and was out for about an hour and a half before it was put down by Courtney Ferguson, the owner of the facility.

The ICL points out that under this bill, neither the IDFG or the Idaho State Department of Agriculture would be notified when USDA-permitted facilities brought animals other than deer into Idaho.

In regards to the IDFG’s neutral stance on the legislation, Matt Pieron, Regional Supervisor of the Upper Snake Region, said their concerns were addressed in the amendment and “duplicative regulation would be unnecessary.”

“We recognize that USDA is the agency with the primary responsibility for captive animal welfare, and duplicative regulation would be unnecessary. Our concerns related to Chronic Wasting Disease in captive deer species was also addressed in the amendment,” says Pieron.

Pieron also said that Bear World’s “liability insurance policy was deemed sufficient as an alternative to a bond in potential cases of facility abandonment, escaped animals or disease control.”

In 2022, complaints about Bear World’s treatment of animals were filed with several agencies, according to the ICL. Those agencies include the USDA, IDFG and Occupational and Safety Administration. OSHA opened an investigation in response to this, which appears to be ongoing. The USDA did not investigate. IDFG issued a notice of violation that related to “feeding of wildlife.”

RELATED | Yellowstone Bear World, fined by OSHA, lobbies for bill to nix oversight of wildlife parks

The ICL also calls this bill a “revenge bill against an agency that found fault.”

James Ruchti, a Senator representing District 29, who voted in favor, said he supported the legislation because Yellowstone Bear World has “been around a long time.”

“It’s a small business, Idaho grown, so I’m generally just supportive of the business community,” Ruchti says. “I felt like the bill took care of some of my concerns.”

One of Ruchti’s concerns was about chronic wasting disease spreading, but he says the amendment to the bill took care of that. He also felt the USDA was a sufficient regulatory agency of animal parks.

Nate Roberts, a representative in District 29, who voted against the bill, said he was skeptical of handing regulatory authority almost entirely over to the federal government, rather than having a state agency regulate animal parks.

“It’s funny because in the State of Idaho it seems like we go back and forth as to what’s convenient,” Roberts said, in regards to federal overreach. Roberts also said that he had some concern for the safety of employees at Bear World.

Despite his reasons for voting against the bill, Roberts didn’t mind that the bill ended up passing through the legislature. He said that with all the legislation they see in Idaho, you have to “roll with the punches.”

“We’ve got to be somewhat good for our businesses, our local businesses in particular,” Roberts said. “This business obviously deals a lot with tourism because it is on the way to Yellowstone, and in some cases people don’t get to see bears other than stopping off at Bear World and getting those up-close views.”

“It’s a unique business model. It’s something that is Idaho-grown. You just don’t see other Bear Worlds out there,” Ruchti said. “This seemed to be something that the business needed in order to help it thrive, and so I thought it was worth supporting.”

EastIdahoNews.com reached out to a representative of Yellowstone Bear World for a statement, but has not received a response.