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Task force seeks bear-baiting study |
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Written by Robert Fisk
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Wednesday, 08 March 2006 |
Thursday, March 02, 2006 - Bangor Daily News
A task force that reviewed Maine's bear-hunting rules has recommended banning steel-jawed leg traps and requested additional study into how bait popular with sportsmen is affecting the size and health of the state's bear population.
But the proposals did little to settle the intense debate between hunting and animal rights groups over tactics used by bear hunters. In fact, at least two anti-hunting groups that participated in the task force are hinting at another voter referendum to change Maine's bear-hunting laws.
"It is a wake-up call to those nonhunters and ethical hunters who are
eventually going to want some input on wildlife decisions," Robert Fisk
Jr., president of Maine Friends of Animals and the leader of the 2004
bear-hunting referendum, said in a statement.
The so-called
"bear working group," which was organized and led by the Department of
Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, made four recommendations in a final
report released this week:
- Eliminate steel-jawed foot traps.
- Allow trappers to use only one bear trap at a time, instead of two.
- Instruct DIF&W to study the impact of bait on bear behavior, health, reproduction and survival rates.
- Instruct
DIF&W to collect more information on the number of bear trappers
active in Maine, their activities and the types of equipment they use.
The
first two recommendations would require DIF&W to initiate a rule
change. The second two are contingent on funding, which is already
scarce in the department.
The task force brought together many
of the major players from both sides of the unsuccessful referendum
campaign in November 2004 to end bear trapping, hounding and baiting in
Maine. Not surprisingly, the parties didn't always get along.
The
four meetings were often tense, frustrating affairs as representatives
from both sides refused to budge on the major issues, several
participants said.
"A lot of it was a rehash of the bear
referendum," said Skip Trask, who represented the Maine Trappers
Association and the Maine Professional Guides Association. "I guess the
way I viewed the whole thing is just another chapter in the
never-ending battle between those who want to ban hunting and trapping
and those of us who want to enjoy those traditional activities."
The only area where most parties appear to agree is in their universal displeasure with the results.
Fisk
derided the report as a missed opportunity for DIF&W to be viewed
as "positive agents of change" that will instead end by further
polarization of the two sides. Fisk also accused DIF&W of an
"unholy alliance" with the hunting lobby despite the fact that the
majority of Mainers do not hunt or fish.
Sportsman's Alliance of
Maine's George Smith, meanwhile, charged the department with caving to
political pressure from the animal rights organizations on the trapping
issues. Smith said SAM opposed the working group's formation but
participated anyway.
"We made an enormous effort a year and a
half ago to defend those [trapping] practices ... and we won," said
Smith, SAM's executive director. "It's disappointing that so soon
afterward the department is taking away some of our victory."
The
Wildlife Alliance of Maine, an organization formed after the
referendum's defeat to counter the powerful hunting lobby in Augusta,
issued a statement decrying the report more than two weeks before the
final version was released.
The WAM statement said the sugary
bait used by many bear hunters may contribute to the growing bear
population by keeping the animals well fed. The group also alleges that
bait may cause bears to acquaint humans with food, leading to more
nuisance bears as well as easier shots for hunters.
WAM
executive director Daryl DeJoy said his group has tried unsuccessfully
to enact "reasonable" changes through the Legislature and through
DIF&W. He said that he personally expects to see a referendum
question on trapping in 2007.
"What they are going to see is
another referendum this is more pointedly, more directly aimed at
[hunting practices] that are unacceptable to the general public in
Maine," DeJoy said.
The only participant interviewed Wednesday
who put a somewhat positive spin on the working group was Don Kleiner
with the Maine Bowhunters Association, although even he was
disappointed that the report didn't more heavily emphasize the need for
additional research.
"I am a person who firmly believes that
listening to someone else is always a worthwhile opportunity, even if
you don't agree," Kleiner said. |
January 2008