The recent shooting of a bear by Rangeley police because it was found around human food sources is a graphic example of what happens when the state’s wildlife policy is driven by money and politics rather than science and safety.

As this letter is written, the woods are being filled with rotting meat, discarded cooking grease and stale jelly doughnuts to lull bears into a false sense of security. The result reduces a sport to a shooting gallery and accustoms bears to human food, drawing them to population centers to get it. This is within everyone’s common experience. When an animal is fed, it returns to the feeding source and acquires a taste for the food. The predictable result is conflict between animal and human.

The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s feeding program is designed to produce more bears for out-of-state hunters who killed 70 percent of the bears taken in 2004, 86 percent of which were killed over bait. Other “benefits” to this approach to game management are the increased possibilities for disease transmission among bears and other animals, as well as escalated reproductive rates, a wider range and changed behavior.

In addition to the revenue generated by hefty nonresident hunting licenses, the department’s 2004 Management Report points out that most out-of state bear hunters frequently employ guides for large fees. Ironically, the report states, “Never feed bears under any circumstances.”

It’s time for Maine’s wildlife agency to follow its own advice.

Don Loprieno, Bristol

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