Dast2Dast

"Our bears, who are already at risk from habitat loss and hunting in surrounding states, are unnecessarily killed for nothing more than a head on the wall or a hide on the floor.

Black bears were protected from hunting for 50 years until Governor Ehrlich instated a hunt in 2004, and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has escalated the number of animals killed without any meaningful long-term analysis of the effect of last year's hunt on the population.

The DNR has provided no scientific evidence that a sport hunt will reduce any human-bear interactions. Hunting only targets bears that are in wilderness areas, not those in suburban areas most likely to interact with humans. Additionally, killing animals, especially solitary animals like bears, does not teach the wider population of that species anything. Any negative experience effectively dies with that animal. It is only through the education of humans and bears that potential conflicts can be remedied and avoided in the future. Humane aversive conditioning has proven to be an effective means of deterring human-bear conflicts.

Last year, a hunter killed a 65 pound cub. Even neighboring states like Virginia and West Virginia, which have thousands of bears and have long allowed bear hunting, do not allow bears to be killed under 100 pounds. Maryland has no restrictions.

The HSUS and The Fund for Animals even offered $75,000 to augment the state's educational programs teaching people how to solve bear conflicts, and to compensate farmers fully for agricultural damage caused by bears. Gov Ehrlich declined the offer, effectively deciding that the hunt was more important than concrete solutions."

Please take action: Ask Ehrlich to stop the bear hunt!