CARIBOU, Maine — With the upcoming vote on ballot Question 1, which looks to ban three different methods of bear hunting in Maine, including baiting, trapping and hunting with dogs, Wayne Pacelle, the president of The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) made a special trip to Caribou on Oct. 8 to speak with fellow advocates of HSUS’s “Fair Bear Hunting Initiative.”
Secretary of State, Matthew Dunlap released the final wording of the question on June 25. It will read, “Do you want to ban bear hunting using bait, traps or dogs except to protect property, public safety or for research?” As the only citizen referendum to reach the ballot, it is automatically Question 1 under Maine law.
The group, which is pushing for a “Yes” vote on the bear referendum, was represented by President Pacelle and Katie Hansberry, Maine state director for the HSUS and head of the Mainers for Fair Bear Hunting Committee, which has been working to spread the word about the campaign by establishing coordinators in all 16 counties throughout Maine. In Aroostook County, Norma Milton, who spearheads Halfway Home Pet Rescue in Caribou, was chosen as the county coordinator. Milton also volunteered to hold the special meeting at her home, where advocates of the Fair Bear Hunting Initiative came together to discuss the finer points of the upcoming ballot question that will be voted on Nov. 4.
“We’ve essentially been traveling around and discussing why it’s good for Maine, good for bears, good for hunting and good for animal welfare to vote “Yes” on Question 1,” said Pacelle. “These three methods currently being used are inhumane and unsporting, and Maine is the only state in the nation that still allows all three of these methods, baiting, trapping and hunting with dogs. In particular, trapping is forbidden in every state when it comes to hunting bears for sport. You can use traps if there is a specific problem, such as a bear nuisance complaint, and Maine would actually still allow any of these three methods if dealing with a problem bear, but this is just designed to bring some fairness back into hunting.”
Pacelle made a deliberate point to clarify that even if the ballot question was to pass, these three methods would still be available for use when dealing with an individual problem bear, but these situations would only be handled by wildlife biologists or any landowner with a bear nuisance complaint.
Opponents to Question 1 have attempted to explain the reasoning for desiring a “No” vote, which revolves a great deal around the theory that this dramatic change would not only be economically harmful to the state’s hunting industry, but could cause a dramatic increase in bear nuisance complaints. They also claim the ban will inevitably disrupt Maine’s current bear management program, which is currently one of the most efficient in the country.
According to Pacelle, this idea that the bear population could become unwieldy is ill-conceived, and the passing of this referendum could actually result in a more healthy and stable bear population.
“We think that bear baiting actually contributes to more nuisance complaints,” said Pacelle. “When a hunter or guide feed bears the type of human foods used in baiting it makes the bears grow accustomed to this readily available food source. This could, in turn, cause more bears to roam around looking for this type of food, creating even more nuisance complaints.”
As passionate about the debate as Pacelle is, his sole concern wasn’t simply the welfare of bears or the prospect of nuisance complaints, but he also revealed a rather startling fact about just how much bait is poured into the Maine woods each year.
“When people are supplementary feeding these bears to the extent that the baiting community does, the estimate is that about seven million pounds of bait is dumped in the Maine woods. This represents an enormous supplement of the bears’ calories,” said Pacelle. “Bear reproductive rates are correlated with their health and their nutritional fitness, so when you have bears that are very well fed, with the jelly donuts and meat scraps and the grease, combined with the natural crops the bears normally eat, you’re going to see bears reproducing every year, which is not the normal circumstance when it comes to bear reproduction.”
“If we’re really serious about keeping the bear population at a stable level, you don’t want to be supplementary feeding the bears,” Pacelle added. “Then when you think about hunting ethics, hunters aren’t allowed to use bait for deer or moose, and those are animals that are much more valued for the table. If you’re a hunter and you want to supplement your food budget, you have a much greater chance of eating a deer or a moose, and if it was simply a food gathering issue, these methods may be more necessary, but we still have hunting rules and ethics, but for bears, which most people don’t eat, the hunt is skewed so badly in favor of the hunter that the bears really don’t stand a chance.”
As issues revolving around bear population and hunting ethics continue to be debated, Pacelle explained that there are also some other factors to keep in mind that really makes the slogan “Fair Bear Hunting” an accurate title.
“Another issue to keep in mind is the fact that a lot of these guides are excluding certain hunters from some of the private lands used for hunting. They pay the paper company to basically have their own right to bait and exclude other hunters,” said Pacelle. “Many guides are actually offering and advertising guaranteed kills when hunting bears. You have people coming in from out of state to hunt for a day or two, and they’re basically given the impression that they’re guaranteed to kill a bear.”
“You see the statistics posted on many websites for guide businesses that boast an 80 percent or sometimes even a 100 percent success rate for bear hunters in need of a guide,” added Hansberry. “Also, in regard to the issue of bear population, it’s important to note that bear population in Maine has actually increased by 30 percent, while nuisance complaints have followed with an increase of 25 percent, which is no surprise with the amount of human junk food we’re currently putting into our woods every year.”
Pacelle also pointed out in regard to hunting with dogs, that Maine forbids dog fighting or any other animal fighting, but when it comes to bears being hunted by dogs it’s state sanctioned.
“When hunting with dogs, the bear will eventually become exhausted or frightened and climb up a tree, then a hunter shoots the bear out of the tree. This is not hunting,” said Pacelle.
According to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, bear hunting — even over bait — isn’t like shooting fish in a barrel. DIF&W claims that the success rate for kills over bear bait hovers around 25 percent. This leaves many opponents of Question 1 arguing that hunting bear over bait isn’t cruel, inhumane or unethical, but instead makes it less likely that a hunter will shoot a female with cubs, and allows the hunter to take a safe, clean shot.
For those like Pacelle, Hansberry and Milton, the consensus is that baiting, trapping and hunting with dogs is cruel, unsportsmanlike and inhumane, but for those guides and any others who depend on this short hunting season to maintain their livelihood, the question may not be so simple.
