I am writing about LD 241, a bill to create an additional “open” spring hunting season for black bears to supplement the three-month fall hunting season that exists. The proposed spring hunt would occur during the time when bears are most vulnerable. Mothers with new cubs or yearlings will be just emerging from hibernation. In the spring, mothers “tree” their new cubs, and leave the young for extended periods while they forage for food that is still scarce.

Bear researchers know it is almost impossible to sex a bear, or to determine whether a bear is lactating (nursing a cub), unless the bear is standing on two feet in a frontal position, and can be identified at close range. The bears feed lying down and are shot by hunters hidden in tree stands. Biologists have proven that all orphaned cubs in the spring will die, either by predators or slow starvation.

How can the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and the hunting community support a bill that fails to protect the family groups of the animal it wants to continue to hunt? Passing this egregious bill would result in the destruction of black bears as a species.

Furthermore, I believe LD 241 is cruel and inhumane treatment of female black bears, their cubs and yearlings. From an ethical standpoint, this bill is a disgrace and a discredit to all who support it. It is my fervent hope that people will be outraged, and will protest this atrocity.

Sara P. Wright, Greenwood