AR-News: (MD - US)Animal rights groups say bear hunt is political payback

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Animal rights groups say bear hunt is political payback 

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Animal rights activists challenged the state's plan for a black bear hunting season Wednesday, calling it a political payoff by Gov. Robert Ehrlich for gun groups that supported his gubernatorial campaign two years ago. 


"There is absolutely no need for a bear hunt in Maryland," said Michael Markarian, president of The Fund for Animals, a national organization that advocates for preservation of animals. 

"Here in Maryland, we are dealing with a few hundred bears" that are not a significant threat to people or property, he said. 

"The only thing a hunt would accomplish is 30 bears being killed for sport...," Markarian said. 

The Department of Natural Resources has authorized a lottery-style bear hunt one week in October and one week in December in Garrett County and the portion of Allegany County west of Cumberland. The season will end when 30 bears are killed. 

Supporters and opponents of the hunt testified Wednesday on a bill by Delegate Barbara Frush, D-Prince George's, that would impose a moratorium on hunting bears in Maryland. 

The department said the hunt is needed to control the bear population in the western part of the state that is now estimated at about 400. 

Shareese DeLeaver, a spokeswoman for the governor, said Ehrlich has not intervened and is leaving it to the scientists and wildlife officials to decide if a hunt is needed. 

"This is about science," she said. "The governor hasn't felt pressure from hunters or any other interest groups and certainly would not, for lack of a better term, fall prey to pressure." 

Support has been building in western Maryland for a bear hunting season from people who say they feel threatened by the increasing number of bears. They also say bears destroy crops and kill pets. 

Paul Peditto, director of the state Wildlife and Heritage Service, defended the hunt Wednesday, saying black bears were an endangered species in Maryland just 30 years ago, but that they have recovered and their numbers are steadily increasing. 

He agreed that there is no great threat to people, saying that "we're not doing this because we believe somebody is going to be eaten alive. 

But he said there is a danger that without a hunt, the number of bears will continue to increase and that they will become more of a threat to people, pets and property. 

While Maryland bears are mostly located in western Maryland, they have been sighted as far east as Montgomery, Anne Arundel and Harford counties. 

At a news conference before the committee hearing on her bill, Frush said it would impose a moratorium on hunting for bears until after 2010. 

"I'm not opposed to hunting," she said. "I believe we have a deer population that needs to be controlled in some way." 

But she said any threat to humans and pet could be minimized if people living in areas with bears would take steps to minimize the risk such as getting rid of bird feeders and keeping trash in closed containers. 

Steve Searles, who was hired to help control the bear population in Mammoth Lake, Calif., said there are ways to change the behavior of bears without killing them. 

Searles displayed a kit including sprays and non-lethal shells that can be fired from shotguns -- "things that bang and whistle and spray," he said -- that can be used to change the behavior of bears. 

"We can talk to that bear and let him know we are not happy with him...," Searles said. 

Peditto said the Department of Natural Resources uses Searles' methods to deal with bears, but he said it is not feasible to depend on his methods to control the animals over four thousand square miles in western Maryland. 

Wayne Pacelle, senior vice president of The Humane Society of the United States, said if there is a hunting season, problem bears who hang around houses, killing pets and raiding trash cans, will not be the ones that will be killed. 

Searles agreed, saying hunters will week out bears away from residential areas because "no hunter wants to shoot them off a trash can." 

But Peditto said the department will control the hunt to target problem bears instead of those living deep in the woods far from people. 

Copyright 2004 The Associated Press.
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