PORTLAND — The Maine Supreme Judicial Court is denying an animal rights group’s request for an expedited appeal in its case against the state’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Mainers For Fair Bear Hunting is appealing a Portland judge’s ruling that the wildlife department can use its resources to campaign against a statewide referendum […]
Question 1
Posted inOp-Eds
Bob Noonan: The truth about bear trapping
Regarding Question 1, there seems to be widespread misunderstanding about bear trapping. To start with, the steel-jawed foothold trap is not legal in Maine. Only foot snares or cage traps are allowed. Bear cage traps are expensive, big, culvert-type affairs that have to be moved by vehicle, while a foot snare can be easily carried […]
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Posted inMaine, sj-web
Bear bait vote sparks interest around the nation
WILTON (AP) — In Maine, a hunter can shoot a bear while it’s nose-deep in a barrel of doughnuts, after it’s been chased up a tree with dogs, or when it’s snared in a cable trap — but that could change in days, and hunters and animal rights advocates around the country are watching. Bears […]
Posted inLetters
D. Mills: No end in sight to controversy
The Portland television stations have outdone themselves this year, raking in all that easy cash for such wild and absurd political ads with no attempt at assuring truth or common sense. Probably the most annoying one, for me, is the bear referendum. Both the “yes” and “no” camps are using ridiculous scare tactics and piling […]
Posted inLetters
B. Herman: The moral side of bear hunting
When I moved to Maine in 2010, a local newspaper featured an image of a grinning 14-year-old, gun in hand, with a trophy bear she had killed near Skowhegan. Upon closer examination, the bear was probably half-grown. The image haunts me to this day and as I came to understand the torturous methods of bear […]
Posted inLetters
S. Doughty: Get all the facts
Maine voters need to get all the facts on the bear referendum. They should not listen to all the hype. The public should vote with their heads, not with their hearts. I am voting on the basis of sound science, deer fawn survival and economic impact on rural Maine. I am voting “no” on Question […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Both sides of bear hunt ballot question spend $1.6M on TV ads
AUGUSTA — The two groups fighting over a ballot measure in Maine that would ban the use of dogs, bait and traps for bear hunting have spent $1.6 million to run television advertisements, according to information released Thursday by the Center for Public Integrity. The pro-ban group Mainers for Fair Bear Hunting has spent $860,500 […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Judge: Maine wildlife department can campaign on bear hunting question
PORTLAND — The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife may advocate for the defeat of a ballot question that asks voters to change the way bears are hunted in Maine, a Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday. Superior Court Justice Joyce Wheeler rejected an injunction request filed by Mainers for Fair Bear Hunting. The group, which […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Maine DIFW won’t spend any more money against Question 1
The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has announced it will expend no “additional funds or resources” to campaign against the upcoming referendum to ban bear baiting, hounding and trapping in Maine. The representation was offered in response to referendum proponents Mainers for Fair Bear Hunting’s request for an emergency injunction, set to be […]
Posted inLetters
Z. Gillis: State biologists know best
Unthinkable, unimaginable, unreal — that is what I think about Question 1. The bear hunting issue is a complex issue that involves tradition, safety, hunting and species management. It is not an issue of Maine people saving bears. Question 1 is the result of people who don’t live in Maine, hiring people from California to […]