But you still need to activate your account.
Our Bangor Daily News Web site can do a lot of impressive things that you, the reader, are probably unaware of.
The Web site (thanks to our handy computer specialists) can tell us what you like to read … and what you could care less about. It can tell you which individual column you’ve decided to read … and which hasn’t caught your fancy.
And because it can do all those things, it can tell us (if we choose to listen) what we ought to be spending more time on … or what we might want to follow up on.
This serves as a lengthy preamble to today’s topic, which I had planned on sharing even before I looked at last month’s Web site stats.
The reason: Today’s topic – the illegal November shooting of three moose and a deer in Addison – strikes a chord that makes us feel both angry and powerful. It helps us realize that something has to be done. Put simply, it serves to unite virtually all of us who love spending time in the out of doors.
It may unite us in a slightly uncomfortable collective state of righteous indignation … but it unites us nonetheless.
I knew I was angry when I heard that some unthinking slob had decided to gun down all those critters – a mother moose, two calves, and a female deer. I knew I had to write about it.
But it wasn’t until the other day – when I reverted to my ball-sports mentality and reached for the stat sheet – that I realized how far-reaching that Dec. 4 column was.
That piece was the most-read outdoors column I wrote last month … and it wasn’t even close. The second-place column, which dealt with Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine’s Sportsmen’s Congress, was read only 64.2 percent as often on the Internet.
As it happens, shortly after reading those eye-opening stats, Warden Sgt. David Craven called with news of a press conference dealing with the same incident.
Craven, Wdn. Bayley Grant, and John Ford, who serves as the chairman of the independent Operation Game Thief, met with the press on Wednesday with some news that may make a difference.
No, Craven and Grant aren’t sure who shot the animals. Not quite. Not yet.
“We have progressed,” Grant said. “That’s all I really can say. We have made some progress. We just need that little bit of information. Somebody knows something about this. There’s no question. Because the person who did this, they couldn’t keep it a secret.”
And according to Ford, there are plenty of reasons for folks to step forward and help the investigation along.
About 6,000 of them, in fact.
Ford explained that pledges to Operation Game Thief have come in from Massachusetts, the Maine chapter of Safari Club International, a logging landowner, and several individuals. The result: A reward of $6,000 is available for the person who phones in the tip that turns the tide.
That reward is the second-largest in the history of Operation Game Thief, according to Ford. The largest – still unclaimed – is $10,000 for the unlawful shooting of nine moose in northern Maine.
“Every sportsman in the state really ought to be offended by [the Addison] act because it’s the sport itself that’s gonna’ take it on the chin in the long run,” Ford said. “And I think that for anybody to even have knowledge about this and allow it to continue, the sport of hunting as we know it is going to become a thing of the past and we need to start standing up and preventing these types of incidents from happening.”
Strong words. But words worth considering.
Every time someone decides to blast away at a bunch of animals, law-abiding hunters will get angry … but the sport itself will suffer.
Grant defends hunting. He defends hunters. And he points out that there’s no resemblance between the person or people who are being sought in this case and the people he checks – and sometimes summonses – each day.
How heinous is the act? Grant has your answer.
“I know a lot of people I’ve convicted, who I’ve caught for various fish and game violations – I wouldn’t categorize them as poachers, just as people who’ve made bad choices – and even they are upset,” Grant said. “They don’t like it.”
“Whoever did this is not a poacher,” Grant said. “They are low. Lower than a poacher. The person I call a poacher is gonna shoot something and is gonna take it. This person is not a hunter and is not a poacher. I don’t even know how to categorize this person. They’re low.”
Low indeed. And somewhere in Addison or Jonesport or Beals or Columbia Falls, somebody knows something. The wardens are convinced of that.
All that’s missing is that one phone call that turns the tide.
“You can do that at 1-800-ALERT-US. 1-800-253-7887,” Ford said. “All calls will be confidential. If you wish to be considered for the reward, if you make that fact known, the operator will walk you through the procedure and it can be done without your identity ever being questioned or known.”
Calling is the right thing to do. But if you need an added incentive, Ford would be happy to give you one. Or 6,000.
“Sometimes, money talks, and it’s unfortunate that’s the way it goes,” Ford said. “In this case, if somebody’s got a little knowledge and they want a little cash, I guess this is probably a pretty good way to get it.”
John Holyoke can be reached at jholyoke@bangordailynews.net or by calling 990-8214 or 1-800-310-8600.
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