Wednesday, May 9, 2007
By DEIRDRE FLEMING
Staff Writer
AUGUSTA - The Legislature's Joint Committee on Inland Fisheries and Wildlife took public testimony for more than three hours Tuesday on a bill that would abolish recreational bear trapping in Maine, and one of the bill's most vocal opponents was the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
Maine remains the only state in the nation to allow recreational bear trapping, and more than 200 people came to the Augusta Civic Center to debate the ethical nature of this activity.
The department joined the Maine Trappers Association in defending bear trapping, while the 700-member Wildlife Alliance of Maine and dozens of citizens supported the bill.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. James Schatz, D-Blue Hill, will be voted on in the committee's work session Thursday.
Schatz said he sponsored the bill because many of his constituents in eastern Maine, including hunters, oppose bear trapping.
"This is about a simple piece of equipment that has outlived its appropriateness and usefulness," Schatz said.
Alliance executive director Daryl DeJoy said he asked Schatz to sponsor the bill because the bear-hunting referendum of 2004 did not focus exclusively on trapping.
The referendum aimed at banning the use of bait, dogs and traps in bear hunting failed by a margin of 53 to 47.
"This state has never been given the opportunity to vote on this single activity," said DeJoy of Penobscot. "Walking up to a bear when it's snared and shooting it is not sport."
However, the department -- as well as its advisory council -- spoke against the trapping bill on the grounds that trapping is a traditional Maine activity and does not threaten the bear population.
Ken Elowe, the department's director of resource management, said it is also ethical because it assures the hunter a clean kill.
"If an animal is as stationary as possible, there will be as little wounding as possible," Elowe said. "And, as with any hunting, shooting is not the sport. It's how you get to that point that is the challenge."
To that, trapper Skip Trask, the Maine Trappers Association spokesman, said snaring a bear is not easy -- and not common.
Elowe said that fewer than 200 bears are trapped in Maine each year.
Some committee members said the department's position would not determine their vote, but it would influence it.
When Louisa Hart of Brunswick criticized the department for "closing their minds and hearts" to the cruel nature of trapping, Rep. Troy Dale Jackson, D-Allagsh, questioned the criticism.
"We might not agree with you on this issue. We are trying to take into account the entire state," Jackson said to Hart. "But we feel the department is doing" a good job at wildlife management.
Committee chair Sen. Bruce Bryant, D-Dixfield, also said the department's management work is respected.
"We do turn to them when we talk about biological issues," Bryant said. "When they testify that bear trapping is sustainable and biologically sound, and it's a traditional activity in Maine, that weights heavily."
Not all lawmakers agreed. Rep. Jane Eberle, D-South Portland, said her constituents in southern Maine would influence her more than the department. A majority of voters in York and Cumberland counties supported the 2004 referendum.
Staff Writer Deirdre Fleming can be contacted at 791-6452 or at:
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Bill: could you please quote the text of the "balance of power" clause? My copy of the constitution seems to be missing that page. Glad to see you are no longer in Farmington.
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