Bears deserve protection
To the editor:
We have a chance this Election Day to stop the unsporting bear hunting practices of baiting, hounding and trapping. To do it, vote “Yes” on Question 1. If you haven’t voted in years or even if you haven’t registered to vote, this is the election to do so.
You can help protect our bears. This issue is pretty simple.
It’s just plan unfair to lure bears with food, then snare them in painful cable traps. These bears struggle and suffer. It’s not fair for people to set packs of dogs into the forest to chase frightened bears to death. And it’s certainly unfair to allow the dumping of donuts and grease in the woods to bait bears. Bait puts all of us at risk because it trains bears, who are smart and naturally wary, to associate food with humans. Everyone in The County knows to take in their garbage and bird feeders to prevent problem bears — there shouldn’t be an exception for the trophy killing of bears so out-of-staters can mount our bears on their walls.
My husband is a hunter and we agree, these practices are just plain wrong. Let’s make it right. A “Yes” vote for Question 1 will still allow bear hunting in Maine, but it will at least make it a fair sport.
Catherine Burrows
Caribou
