18 May—Following a six-minute debate on Thursday, the state senate approved by a 34-2 vote Raised Bill 1523 that would facilitate the wanton slaughter of black bears. This is the text of the bill, “An Act Concerning Bear Hunting”:

“Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened: . . . The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection shall adopt regulations, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54 of the general statutes, to establish a black bear hunting season. Such regulations may prescribe the method of take, the duration of any such season, bag limits, the fee for any such permit and the lands upon which any such hunting may occur.”

The Statement of Purpose is “To authorize the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to establish a bear hunting season.”

That may seem innocuous enough, but consider that the legislation it builds on already allows people to kill bears in order to protect themselves, livestock, and pets after non-lethal methods of defense fail. (Compare that to Connecticut’s shameful “duty to retreat” law that doesn’t allow you to “stand your ground” when a person—as opposed to a non-human, of course—wants to kill you.)

Senators Christine Cohen and Mae Flexer voted against the measure that would allow the DEEP—which has shown time and again that it doesn’t deserve to be trusted with anything—to determine whether bear encounters with people, livestock, and pets pose actual threats.

The co-chairman of the Environment Committee, Sen. Rick Lopes, observed, “If they feel that human-bear conflicts have risen to the level that endangers public safety, they can start promulgating regulations to look into a bear hunt.” So Lopes essentially confirmed that the decision to order a bear hit is arbitrary and capricious. No surprise there.

Nicole Rivard, of Friends of Animals, pulled no punches about “the sneaky, grisly, myopic attempt to create an unjustifiable black bear trophy hunt in the state. . . . The state has already bent over backwards to show that it is listening to concerns with a law on the books that allows killing of bears in self-defense and allows DEEP to issue permits to farmers. DEEP can also kill any so-called nuisance bears. Enough is enough. These hunting apologists are the ones who are unbearable, not bears.”

Many vocal proponents of bear hunting in Connecticut are naturally blood-thirsty trophy hunters who want to augment their taxidermy zoos and/or put DIY bear rugs on their floors. Connecticut law currently directs the DEEP to dispose of ursine remains. So to discourage trophy hunters, legislation should stipulate in no uncertain terms that bear carcasses must be destroyed by the DEEP.

That alone should diminish support for increased bear hunts . . .