Maine - Pass Law that Stops Baiting Bears with Doughnuts or Dogs Chasing up Tree as Kill Methods

Please sign and share this petition nationwide in an effort to encourage Maine Officials to pass the law that bans baiting bears with doughnuts, hounding and bear traps in order to trap them and kill them. There are pros and cons to these practices state and nationwide because of the overpopulation of bears but there has to be other methods of controlling it than baiting them to shoot them.

Hunters in Maine are allowed to 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 officials are looking to change that. Maine currently has the most permissive rules, allowing these practices of bait, dogs and traps. However, animal activists are against these practices. Of course, national hunting groups oppose the ban because they believe it could set a precedent that prompts other states to try to roll back hunting rights. Some animal rights activists see it as a dress rehearsal for referendums in other states that allow hunting methods they perceive as cruel.

These methods are cruel, presenting these animals as "sitting ducks" to be killed. Activists believe also that these methods are unsportsmanlike. Maine's defense is that they have an overpopulation of black bears in their state. However, the methods currently used to destroy the animals is inhumane. There are other methods of controlling wild bear numbers.

A newer controversial method of birth control and sterilization has been developed to safely and humanely control the overpopulation of wild animals such as black bears. Officials considering this ban also need to dig deep in research in such a method as the contraceptive SpayVac or any other options that can work as effectively. And one of the main advantages of the SpayVac is that it is non-invasive.      

I know some people are concerned about losing their businesses if this ban on baiting, dogs and traps passes when hunting bears but it is sad that people are actually in a business that promotes killing to begin with!  Using bait, typically sugary human food such as doughnuts is by far the most common method of bear hunting, accounts for about four-fifths of the hunt, and is the most debated of the three methods.  Supporters of the proposal say the use of bait has actually abetted the state’s growing bear population. Dumping thousands of pounds of human food into the woods, one oft-cited estimate says it’s about 7m pounds per year has created a well-fed bear population that reproduces more frequently, said Katie Hansberry, campaign director for Mainers for Fair Bear Hunting. She said that’s also why nuisance bear encounters have increased about 25%, to about 500 per year, since a decade ago. “It’s the absolute worst way to manage bears if you want to minimize conflicts with people,” Hansberry said.

We need to encourage the state of Maine, through their Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife that these practices need to be banned and other more humane methods of controlling the bear population need to be researched and implemented. Please sign and share this petition nationwide in an effort to encourage Maine Officials to pass the law that bans baiting bears with doughnuts, hounding and bear traps in order to trap them and kill them. There are pros and cons to these practices state and nationwide because of the overpopulation of bears but there are other methods of controlling it than baiting them to shoot them.