Cornell bans bear butchering after students carved up creature in dorm kitchen

Cornell University has introduced a formal ban on butchering wild game in its residential kitchens, a direct response to an incident in 2025 when two students carried a black bear carcass into a dormitory kitchen at Ganędagǫ Hall to prepare it. The move follows months of controversy after footage of the butchering went viral, sparking backlash on campus and online, though officials have only now confirmed the policy change was prompted by that episode. The rule closes what students had treated as a grey area in campus regulations, explicitly stating that "processing wild/game animals in community kitchens is strictly prohibited."

One of the students involved, Aaron Chin, later identified himself on a hunting podcast, explaining that he and a fellow student brought the bear to campus after an alternative butchering location fell through, and said they had carefully checked campus rules beforehand to avoid breaking them. Despite the uproar, an inspection by New York's Department of Environmental Conservation found no code violations at the time. Cornell and Chin have both been approached for further comment.