I am writing in support of Jackie Freitas of Friendship, who objected to the annual crow hunt in Maine in a recent letter to the editor (“Crow hunt does nothing but make Maine look bad,” May 17). The crow hunt has gone on for years, but that doesn’t make it right.

There is no limit to the number of crows that can be killed each year. One wonders why the state bans the hunting of crows during their nesting season if they are just “pests” and their population needs to be “managed.”

I would ask the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to provide recent scientific studies to the public to back up its claims that an unlimited number of crows – or any crows – must be killed each year to prevent the robbing of nests of numerous endangered species and the destruction of agriculture.

If we follow the logic of the IF&W, we should have an open season on sea gulls because they might rob the nests of the piping plover, an endangered species that nests on local beaches.

Crows are not the only creatures that pluck seeds from fields and rob eggs from nests. Because the humble crow has been labeled as “vermin” and a “nuisance,” they are vulnerable. Crows are stereotyped as less desirable than other birds, such as blue jays and robins, but they perform a valuable service as scavengers of carrion.

With nobody to fight for them, crows are shot every year. The “lucky” crows are killed instantly; the “unlucky” crows are wounded and suffer before they die during this annual target practice.

Vae Philbrick

Scarborough

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