Recently, in a sweeping, breathtakingly cavalier — if not bizarre — editorial, the Bangor Daily News called for the Maine State Legislature to “eliminate once and for all” the practice of trapping bears or hunting them with hounds. Apparently, the newspaper was moved to take its bold position by an announcement made this fall by […]
bear baiting
Posted inLocal Sports
Outdoors in Maine: No more chocolate for Yogi
We can all heave a huge sigh of relief. Finally, the live-free-or-die state neighboring New Hampshire has put in effect a new rule that bans the use of chocolate of any kind in bear baits. The new ban reads in part: “For the 2016 black bear baiting season and for all subsequent black […]
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Posted inMaine, sj-web
Maine bear hunting: Bear baiting has started
PORTLAND — Maine hunters are starting to drop bait in the woods for bears as one of the most popular hunting seasons in northern New England draws near. Hunters are allowed to pursue bears with the use of bait, dogs or traps. Bait is by far the most popular method of hunting bears, and the […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Don Loprieno: Another perspective to the bear referendum
The bear referendum is over, and as one who was active in that campaign (on the side of the bears) I would like to offer my perspective and perhaps correct a few misconceptions. For instance, it was thought by some that the Humane Society of the United States was being emotional and deceptive to run […]
Posted inLetters
D. Smith: Voting result is shameful
I was very disappointed in the outcome of the bear-baiting issue (Question 1) and the people of Maine, who voted out of fear and greed to continue the cruelty to Maine’s beautiful bears — animals that people seldom get to see because bears are so shy. I guess it is true that money is the […]
Posted inLetters
N. Smith: Creative bear management
Now that the issue behind Question 1 has been settled — a majority of Maine voters believe that doughnuts are the best way to protect themselves from bears — I suggest taking the process a step further. Why not craft legislation that would require all doughnuts produced in Maine be used to feed bears. That […]
Posted inMaine
Yes on 1 spokesman charged with shooting a weapon from a vehicle while hunting grouse
A Maine hunter featured on Yes on 1 ads in support of the bear referendum has been accused of using non-fair chase tactics while hunting ruffed grouse. Joel Gibbs, 56, of Lowell, was charged with shooting a firearm from a motor vehicle on Oct. 17 in Masardis, a small town in Aroostook County, after game […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Maine Supreme Court denies appeal to bear baiting ban supporters
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 […]
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 inMaine, sj-web
Wildlife official: Web design on bear-baiting was public education, not campaigning
AUGUSTA (AP) — A senior Maine wildlife official said her department paid a company $6,600 for web design and a PowerPoint presentation defending bear-baiting not to sway voters in an upcoming referendum, but as a matter of public education. Judy Camuso, director of the wildlife division of the state’s Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife, […]