Tuesday, April 21, 2020 | 2 a.m.
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Once again, Nevada’s Wildlife Commission will consider quotas for the next black bear hunt, which has been controversial from its beginning.
Many people oppose this hunt for several reasons:
1. There is no stated wildlife management objective. We don’t hear the Nevada Department of Wildlife saying the hunt is for “the health of the herd.” Instead, it is always that “the population can sustain these losses.” The department isn’t even sure how many black bears have migrated from California to Nevada around the Lake Tahoe area; its guesses vary widely. We are now losing over 10% of the bears a year to hunting and speeding drivers — a biological disaster.
2. This is a trophy hunt — the head goes on a wall or the skin on the floor as a rug. That’s it. Decoration.
3. The use of hounds is destructive and against any semblance of fair chase. The hounds wear GPS collars, so the hunter simply follows the collar location to the bear, probably in a tree, perhaps a female who has hidden her cubs, who then become orphans and often die.
Problem bears can be dealt with separately by moving them away from civilization and educating residents that bears will follow the scent of food to trash cans that are not secure in wildlife-proof garbage containers. Please send your comments to [email protected].
