Last week, the House of Representatives voted, basically along party lines, to overturn a permanent ban on “predatory hunting” of bears, wolves, and coyotes on Alaska’s federally protected national preserves, in total covering around 20 million acres, by handing them back to the state jurisdiction. Hunting on these lands for purposes other than subsistence has been controversial but controlled since 1994, and the permanent ban took effect in 2015.

The new resolution, HJ Res. 69, was passed with 220 Republican and five Democratic “yes” votes, as well as 10 Republican and 183 Democrat “no” votes. It was voted on, essentially, as a state’s rights issue, with opponents of the ban arguing that it constituted federal overreach. It will now go to the Senate and, if passed there, on to President Trump to sign.

HJ Res. 69 will nullify the previous laws, which prohibit shooting hibernating bears and their cubs, denning wolves and their cubs, taking any animals with cubs, trapping or snaring bears, and limit the killing of bears from aircraft.

The move has been condemned by the Humane Society, the Sierra Club, and numerous Alaskan wildlife advocacy groups. Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society, said in a press release about the resolution, “What the House did today should shock the conscience of every animal lover in America.” He added that, “If the Senate and president concur, we’ll see wolf families killed in their dens, bears chased down by planes, or suffering for hours in barbaric steel-jawed traps or snares.”