Bears: First we take away their traditional foods, then we take them away too?

from the LA Times:

A summary of the proposed changes include: incorporating additional areas of the state to allowed bear hunting; increasing the current quota to 2,500 bears; raising the number of bear tags issued to 30,000; eliminating the current in-season closure mechanism, instead ending the season on the last Sunday in December; and allowing global positioning system collars and treeing switches on dogs used while bear hunting. (The entire 171-page document can be viewed online.)

“Bear hunting is a blood sport, and permitting hunters to use hounds to chase bears to exhaustion is glorified dog fighting that pits hounds against bears,” Vincent said.

“The public was rightfully outraged when it was revealed that Michael Vick was forcing dogs to fight each other. Why then is it legal for houndsmen to engage in what is essentially animal fighting?”

Big Wildlife plans to put forward extensive comments when the proposals are submitted at the California Fish and Game Commission meeting Thursday in Sacramento.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/outposts/2010/02/bear-hunting-opposition.html