P.s. does anyone know what caliber they got this bear with and what bullets?

Via email: fgc@fgc.ca.gov, Director@dfg.ca.gov, eloft@dfg.ca.gov

Dear California Fish and Game Commission:

It hurt me greatly to hear of the proposed changes to expand black bear hunting. Our planet ‘s
environment is so precious and we need not cave in to the twisting of arms by those with hunting
interests and those who have mega bucks to exert coercions on others in office to make changes
in the current black bear hunting rules regarding hunting season, expanded numbers of bears
that can shot and killed and the allowance of devices and dog tracking devices that makes hunting
no longer a sport – but a kind of “let’s go shopping for a bear.”

I oppose the California Department of Fish and Game’s (CDFG) proposals to expand
black bear hunting. The agency recently unveiled plans to: allow an unlimited number
of bears to be killed across California during the hunting season; permit the use of high-tech
global positioning equipment and “tip switches” on hound collars to make it easy
to locate and kill a bear; open the first-ever bear hunting season in San Luis Obispo
county and expand the hunts in Modoc and Lassen counties; and significantly expand
the hound training season, allowing hounds to harass bears nearly all year long. I
urge you to reject these proposals because they are scientifically indefensible,
unnecessary, and environmentally harmful. Specifically, I contend the Commission
should oppose CDFG’s plans for the following reasons:

The agency has not demonstrated any need for these regulatory changes other
than to placate hunting interests, nor does the CDFG provide sufficient
information to assess the detrimental effects these changes may have on bears.
According to CDFG data, the number of bears killed legally by hunters has steadily
increased well beyond the agency’s own 1,700 annual season limit. Yet, the CDFG
has yet to analyze how these dramatic increases have affected state and local bear
populations, behavior, social structure, reproduction, and cubs. Increasing the quota
or eliminating the cap altogether will further stress the state’s bear population and
put some local populations at risk.

2. There is no guarantee that expanding hunting into San Luis Obispo, Lassen, or
Modoc counties will not adversely impact the black bear population in those
counties. The CDFG has not conducted specific research in these counties to
determine the size, distribution, or demographics of the populations to assess
whether these local bear populations can withstand an increase in hunting activity.

An expansion of bear hunting will place additional pressures on bears, who face a
host of threats from poaching, habitat alteration, human encroachment into wildlife
areas, aggressive government lethal control programs, and climate change.

State wildlife officials have failed to assess the impacts of poaching. Illegal killing
of bears has increased world-wide, fueled by a booming market, for bear parts,
especially bear gallbladders used in traditional Asian medicine and bear paws,
considered a delicacy in soup. Bear gallbladders can go for $5,000 a pound.
Poaching of wildlife has become epidemic across the state. Violations rose from
6,538 in 2003 to 17,840 in 2007. The illegal sale of California wildlife and wildlife
parts generates an estimated $100 million a year, second only to the illegal drug
trade, according to CDFG officials. Yet, the state has fewer than 200 game wardens
patrolling 300,000 square miles of land and water. It makes no sense to expand bear
hunting when state wildlife law enforcement capabilities are so crippled. Permitting
hunters to use GPS devices on hounds will only exacerbate poaching.

Trophy hunting ignores the ecological value of bears. Apex species, such as bears,
cougars, and wolves, play critical roles in maintaining ecosystems. Black bears often
scavenge for food, playing an important role in recycling carrion. Bears also help
transport berry seeds. Along salmon spawning streams, bear scat and the remains of
fish carried into the woods contribute to the long-term nutrient cycle in old-growth
forest. Even cambium feeding by bears, which sometimes kills trees, creates widely
scattered snags that benefit other species of wildlife.

Hound hunting of bears is unsporting, unethical, and environmentally harmful.
In California, bears can be legally chased by hounds, treed, and then shot by
hunters. Hounds have been known to pursue bears with cubs, increasing the risk
that cubs could be separated from their mothers, then orphaned. It is not
uncommon for hounds to maim bears, especially cubs, and even more common for
bears to maim or kill an entire pack of hounds. In addition, hounds may pursue
non-targeted animals, including imperiled species, putting additional stress on
those species. Allowing hunters to place GPS devices and tip switches on hounds
will inevitably make it much easier for hunters, as well as poachers, to kill more
bears.

Hunting does not reduce conflicts with bears. Trophy hunters target the largest
bears who may look good on a wall or as a throw rug, not the young males who are
primarily responsible for conflicts. Furthermore, hunting takes place far from
homes, while so-called “problem bears” usually live in the urban-suburban
interface. Shooting bears at random is as effective at reducing conflicts as shooting
into a crowded room is at reducing crime. And using hunting as an aggressive and
expansive lethal control of bears ignores the root cause of bear-human conflicts.
Most encounters with bears are the result of irresponsible human behavior (e.g.
landowners who refuse to depose of garbage properly).

Hunting of bears puts the public at risk. California is densely populated state and
many people recreate in bear country. Since hunting hounds are usually off-leash,
3 packs of hounds may trespass onto private land, harass companion, farm, and ranch
animals, and destroy private property. The presence of packs of hunting hounds
also disturbs the peace and tranquility of those who recreate in the backcountry.
I therefore urge you to reject the CDFG’s proposals to expand bear hunting in
California.

Sincerely,

Stephanie Woodyard
Sierra Club Member
Email: stephanie.woodyard@pamc.net