In November, voters can put an end to three heinous practices used to kill Maine’s bears for recreation: baiting, trapping and hounding.
A former hunter has told me that witnessing the profound pain and terror of a bear that was trapped, and then shot, at a baited site disturbed him so deeply that he never hunted again.
Bear trophy hunters and the camps that market to them are not as sensitive. For $2,000, one camp promises that shooting a snare-trapped bear lured to a bait site loaded with doughnuts and grease will be an “exhilarating adrenaline rush.”
The Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife wants to persuade us that strewing millions of pounds of junk food across Maine’s wild areas is responsible bear management, a noble tradition and vital to our economy. Cruelty is never noble, and economic activity based on it should not be justified. Show compassion. Vote “yes” on 1.
Karen Coker
Cape Elizabeth
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