Article on bear baiting not amusing to reader

I found nothing amusing about Bill Graves’ piece on bear baiting “Animal Antics Amusing” (BDN Sept. 20-21).

There’s nothing amusing about dumping thousands of pounds of food into the woods to teach bears that humans feed them. There’s nothing amusing about promoting the spread of diseases among bears that come into abnormally close contact with each other at feeding sites. There’s nothing amusing about bears that have become nuisance garbage eaters because their teeth have rotted from eating sugar. There’s nothing amusing about bears that have learned to rely on human handouts for their survival.

Bears are wild animals, not cartoon characters. Maine’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife both discourages people from and encourages people to feed bears. Bill Graves simply doesn’t get it. If he wants to watch bears and gives a hoot about whether or not he is causing them harm, he should watch them on television or visit them at the Maine Wildlife Park in Gray!

John M. Glowa Sr.

South China

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