A Junk-Food Ban for Bears

Activists in Maine want to outlaw hunting with piles of pastries

A bear hunter in Alton, Me., loads a barrel with old doughnuts and jelly rollsPhotograph by Gregory Rec/Portland Press Herald

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By Annie Linskey

October 3, 2013 at 9:16 PM UTC

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This article is part of the October 7, 2013 issue of businessweek.

A Junk-Food Ban for Bears — Photograph by Gregory Rec/Portland Press Herald

Mitch Cummings hunts black bears with day-old jelly doughnuts, chocolate cupcakes, Twinkies, and white bread. He buys 200 pounds of pastries for $20 at a bakery, takes them to his bait site in the woods near his home in Bethel, Me., stuffs the sweets into a barrel, and waits with his rifle for the animals to feast.