In an article describing the plight of a starving eaglet, the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has – sadly and ironically – said that intervention is only appropriate when there is “a human cause of [the] situation.” IF&W would take action to protect eagles from the indolence of man, such as lead contamination, but it will not protect bears from the willful, slothful repugnance of man that is bear baiting.
Every single year, bear baiters dump 6 million pounds of fetid food waste into our woods – jelly doughnuts, Fryolator grease and rotting meat – to bring bears within yards of lazy trophy hunters, so they can take potshots and bring home a bearskin rug.
I wish the IF&W would hold our iconic black bears in higher regard and intervene for the sake of all our bears to prohibit this unsportsmanlike practice. Humans are the cause of this cruelty and its unintended consequences, such as creating food-habituated, nuisance bears.
Mainers are a people who don’t listen unquestioningly to the words of Augusta insiders. Mainers think for themselves. That’s why I expect they will turn out at the polls in droves this November to vote yes to prohibit senseless bear baiting.
Christina Heldenbrand
Freeport
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