Bears don’t have a fighting chance
To the editor:
Bear baiting and trapping are like shooting fish in a barrel. The bears don’t have a fighting chance. They’re lured by human food or tethered with a cable snare, before being shot up close. To be sporting, you need to give the animal a fighting chance.
My wife has been active in the campaign; she helped gather signatures and attended informational meetings. Now I’m ready to take up the rallying cry.
Baiting is not just unfair, it is bad for the bears. The food they’re eating — like jelly doughnuts, syrup and old restaurant grease — isn’t good for them. It’s junk food that isn’t good for people and definitely isn’t good for bears.
Even if the bear isn’t shot while its head is buried in the pile of food, it still hurts the bear to be eating food that’s so bad for it. By getting the animal used to the food, it causes them to become more of a nuisance looking to people for more junk food.
To prevent nuisances in the first place, we must keep junk food away from bears and not pile it up in the woods.
Last but not least, let’s talk about hounding or chasing them down with dogs. A bear is a very powerful and dangerous animal to begin with. With the use of dogs, a bear is going to become defensive when cornered making them even more dangerous. Think of a human with “fight or flight”, these animals become killers and the dogs are the first to go. Not only that, but a lot of hunters abandon the dogs after the hunt.
Earl Mahoney
Mapleton
