29 March—The good news—so far—is that yesterday the Connecticut General Assembly’s Environment Committee had the good sense to reject the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s absurd recommendation to permit a “regulated” black bear hunt. Instead, the committee approved a bill to allow corn farmers to kill alleged problem bears that return to their fields during a second growing season. Evidently foraging bears sometimes do major damage to corn crops. But how are farmers to identify return marauders? Not that hunters care.

The bad news is that the Environment Committee approved a bill to allow firearm hunting of deer on Sundays. It’s currently open season (figuratively) only on weekdays. Sunday bow hunting has been permitted since 2015. The fact that the hunting would be allowed only on private land with permission of the owner is cold comfort to the innocent murder victims and their families. Yes, non-human animals have families too and hunters invariably don’t give a damn about what happens to fawns when the trophy parents are murdered . . .