Outdoors activists will converge on Augusta today.
The fur could fly Tuesday when a normally low-key annual pro-hunting event at the State House is expected to attract people against a referendum outlawing bear baiting in Maine.
This year’s annual Fur, Fin and Feather Day will feature several groups speaking against the referendum, including hunters who say the proposal is an attack on Maine hunting.
At issue is a Nov. 2 ballot question that will ask: Do you want to make it a crime to hunt bears with bait, traps or dogs, except to protect property, public safety or for research?
Those on each side of the issue have already mounted a campaign and political action committee, and are working to raise thousands of dollars for what’s likely to be a loud campaign.
Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine representatives, Maine guides, outfitters, sporting groups and the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife will be on hand. At noon Gov. John Baldacci will speak against the referendum initiative. A private reception for SAM board members will follow in Senate President Beverly Daggett’s office, which features a bear rug on her office couch.
The opposing campaign, Maine Citizens for Fair Bear Hunting backed by the Humane Society, is not expected to show.
SAM officials warned members that the Humane Society is against all hunting. SAM is forming a “campaign speakers bureau” and holding a speakers training session on Feb. 28.
The other side is fighting back.
To counter what it calls SAM’s “campaign of misinformation and fear,” on Monday the Citizens for Fair Bear Hunting announced a new group: “Hunters for Fair Bear Hunting.”
Saying the group represents Maine hunters who agree with the referendum – Maine Citizens sent out 110,000 letters to hunting households in the name of the new group disputing SAM’s claims.
The letter said the referendum would not lead to an end to hunting, but that shooting a bear feasting on jelly doughnuts is unsportsmanlike.
As the campaign matures, there’ll be television advertisements by both sides and robust discussions throughout the state, Wayne Pacelle, senior vice president of the Humane Society for the United States, said Monday.
Saying the issue “could not get a fair shot at the State House,” Pacelle said his group’s Maine members will become more politically active in the referendum campaign.
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