This issue of bear baiting is about ethics versus money. It’s not about wildlife management or preserving a Maine tradition.

The use of bait was only introduced 25 years ago by the commercial bear guides. Eighty percent of bear licenses are sold to out-of-state trophy hunters. The Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine and the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife urge Maine citizens, under the guise of science, to support these unfair hunting methods.

Here’s what they don’t tell us. Many of SAMs members are employees of IF&W. How can their “scientific studies” be unbiased? If we vote to ban baiting, trapping and hounding, bear hunting will still continue and the use of these hunting methods will still be permitted for protection and scientific study. Finally, if money is a concern, the recent ban on these hunting methods in Oregon and Washington has tripled revenue from bear licenses, and those states haven’t had an increase in nuisance bears.

SAM and the IF&W have the funding to push their agenda. The Citizens and Hunters for Fair Bear Hunting, who received over 100,000 supportive signatures, are working hard from small donations and can’t afford the big advertising to put this in perspective. We are the last state to allow steel leg-hold traps and one of a handful to hunt with these cruel and unfair methods. Isn’t it time for Maine to live up to its progressive standards? Please vote for ethics and ban baiting, trapping and hounding.

Donna Lacey-Derstine,

Harrison

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