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Ten ideas on bear hounding, trapping |
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Written by Robert Fisk
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Saturday, 04 February 2006 |
Wednesday, February 01, 2006 - Bangor Daily News
The fallout of the close election to ban the hunting of bears with bait, hounds and traps was the submittal of eight different bear bills to the legislature last year. The Committee on Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, instead of addressing them, directed the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to seriously review all bear- hunting practices while involving all the stakeholders. This "bear working group" has been meeting since early October. The DIF&W will consider suggestions from this advisory group and make its report to the committee this legislative session.
Whatever you make of the bear referendum and its results, one unquestionable result is that bear hunting in this state will never be viewed the same. The public awareness that came from the referendum changed all that. It is far more difficult for intransigent positions to survive among the increased public awareness and a changing political environment. If the Department's report is essentially a whitewash or status quo document that has no meaningful changes, then those who went into this process open-minded will be hardened like never before. |
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Bear debate changed public’s view of hunt |
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Written by Robert Fisk, Jr.
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Thursday, 29 December 2005 |
Op-Ed Maine Sunday Telegram (11/20/05)
by Robert Fisk, Jr., director of Maine Friends of Animals
Deirdre Fleming’s Outdoor column “Sportsman’s Alliance taps unity“
(Telegram 10/30/05) had a substantive omission and lacked a balanced
perspective. The opening sentence read: “The bear referendum last fall
did wonders to unite the sportsmen’s clubs around the state.”
What Ms. Fleming neglected to consider is how did the bear referendum
affect the proponents of it? The answer is they increased their support
substantially and far more so than any growth within sportsmen’s
clubs.
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Facts Supporting a Ban on Hound Hunting of Bears |
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Written by Robert Fisk
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Wednesday, 28 December 2005 |
Hound hunting is unsporting. Finding a terrorized bear treed by
a pack of hounds and shooting it at point blank range is unsporting,
makes a mockery of the term fair chase and demeans all
hunting. The dictionary defines “hunt” as 1. “to pursue
(game or wild animals) for food or sport” or 2. “to seek out, to search
for”. Pursuit, the actual chase, precedes the kill, without it hunting
is merely killing. Hunting without restrictions on how we pursue game
loses it meaning. A hunter earns the privilege to take an animal’s life
by mastering the skills of the hunt. In hounding the only hunter is the
dogs.
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Rules For the Care and Treatment of Elephants |
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Written by Robert Fisk
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Wednesday, 28 December 2005 |
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TESTIMONY OF ROBERT FISK, JR.
President & Director of Maine Friends of Animals
Rules pertaining to L.D. 327
December 9, 2005
RULES FOR THE CARE AND TREATMENT OF ELEPHANTS
Rules and Regulations Relating to Animal Welfare
In 2000 animal advocates came together in Maine to address what they
considered one of the more egregious forms of animal cruelty; that of
being a circus elephant. Our campaign raised public awareness of how a
circus elephant is trained, kept, used and disposed of. It is an
unusually cruel and miserable existence for such a free roaming,
intelligent, social, gentle giant. The campaign culminated with the
Maine House of Representatives voting (88-58) in favor of a bill to ban
any performing elephants in the state. Unfortunately it lost in the
Senate. But the advocates continued their campaign for two more years
and re-introduced the same legislation in 2003, L.D. 327 “An Act to
Prevent Elephant Abuse”, which brings us to today. The rules before us
are reasonable and minimal in which the circus industry must adhere to
while in the state. These rules reflect the standards of the APHIS and
the US Department of Agriculture in the care and treatment of animals.
It is hard for me to understand what possibly could be the reason the
circus industry is here today to oppose these rules. They are rules
they already are suppose to be operating under.
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