Your editorial of May 20, 2014, has some severe inacurate assumptions and statements. As for bear traps, they have been outlawed for quite some time. To attempt to correct the person who wrote this editorial; a trap and a legal snare are two completely different items. A trap, as she refers to in the editorial, securely holds the leg of an animal with jaws and teeth. A snare is a cable that allows small bear and other animals to escape should they step into it. It’s legal closure is 2-1/2 inches. It is a snare not a trap. The law and all ethical sportsmen require the trap to be tended once a day, every day. I have seen bears curled up and asleep. They are not in pain and I have seen bears released from cable traps without harm to the bear. It is a humane way to determine whether a bear is age appropriate for harvest.

As for dogs, any good houndsman pulls his dogs off the tree that the bear has ascended allowing a decision as to the size and quality and if it will be harvested at all. Many are left to go on their way.

As to our deer herd, does she not realize that we do not need bear to kill off any more. Maine’s cold, hard, snowy winters, as well as the coyotes, have done more to hurt the Maine deer herd than any bear ever will.

Please tell me, what is a bear-proof container? I cannot believe that she does not understand that a bear can get into almost anything they choose to. Does she really believe anyone who grows fruit could pick up the fruit that falls every day? Is she aware that bee-keepers are experiencing heavy losses of bees which polinate the trees endangering our food chain and honey is one of the most favorite foods of bears? Seriously, does she really believe that 150 feet from a wooded area makes any difference to a bear searching for food? Stopping bear hunting and baiting and the use of dogs will only compromise the control we presently have over bear. New Jersey tried it and found the best control was to return to baiting bears. Black bear are a very dangerous animal. You do not want to allow them to overpopulate and go into the streets of Portland, as has recently happened.

Wallace E. Staples,

Registered Maine Guide

Woolwich