PORTLAND (AP) – Mainers on Tuesday defeated a referendum that would have banned the use of bait, traps or dogs to hunt bears in Maine after months of expensive campaigning that played on fears and ethics to win voters.
With 84 percent of precincts reporting, opponents had 308,600 votes, or 53 percent, and supporters of the ban had 273874 votes, or 47 percent.
The ballot proposition divided hunters and animal rights activists across the state and led to a campaign of emotionally charged advertisements featuring audio recordings of a moose mauling and footage of a bear being killed.
“The numbers prove this was a northern Maine, southern Maine issue,” said Edith Leary, campaign director for the Maine Fish & Wildlife Conservation Council, which opposed the ban. “We knew this would be tight.”
Polls before the election showed a majority of Mainers rejecting the proposal.
Robert Fisk, director of Maine Citizens for Fair Bear Hunting, which supported the ban, said the close vote showed people were voting with their conscience.
“I think it took awhile for (voters) to focus on the real issues in this campaign,” Fisk said. “We always thought we would get some momentum once the voters focused on the issues, which are cruelty and unethical hunting.”
Supporters and opponents intensified TV advertisements in the final days of a campaign, playing upon people’s fears of bears and contempt for hunting techniques viewed as unsportsmanlike.
Activists pushing for the ban painted a picture of out-of-state trophy hunters luring bears with bait buckets filled with stale jelly doughnuts and then shooting or trapping the helpless animals.
Opponents warned of a proliferating bear population that posed a danger to suburban neighborhoods. They also pointed to a loss of revenues for hunting camps if the measure passed.
Bear hunting is allowed in 28 states. Going into Election Day, 11 allowed baiting and 17 allowed hunters to use dogs. Voters in Alaska also went to the polls to decide the fate of a similar initiative to ban bear baiting.
Alaska currently allows bear baiting to hunt black bears, but not grizzlies.
Maine, with a bear population now estimated at 23,000, is the only state to allow hunters to use bait, dogs and traps.
AP-ES-11-03-04 0147EST
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