Did you see in Sunday's paper where this wacko liberal anti-hunting group sent 600 postcards to Garrett county landowners claiming that "40% of hunters with bear permits are alcoholics, drug addicts, or mentally unstable"?

When pressed on the statistic later, the head of the group admitted that they "made up" the statistic.

These postcards smeared Governor Ehrlich and every hunter in MD. Aside from this article on page C4 of the Herald-Mail, I saw no coverage of this in the media. I guess hunters aren't PC enough for the media to get too worked-up over it.

Sounds like a class action law suite on behalf of all Maryland Hunters is in order. We need to cut these groups off at the knees.

WORD!

P.S. I see PHISH cleaned up this thread. Thank heaven for small favors.

This is about BEAR hunting NOT FACT hunting!

Has anything been said about the hunt being delayed or anything because of these nuts?It's needed. Tagging them and moving them doesn't seem to work well.I remember hearing that a few have been moved farther into the mountains but they seem to find their way back.

Agreed.

There's an overpopulation of bears? I did not know this. Which anti-hunting group was it specifically?

There is a Oct. 18 hearing in PG County circuit court brought by "animal protection groups" like "The Fund For Animals and The Hiumane Society of the US".

The whacko who sent the postcards was from "The Institute for Public Safety" and the Chairman, Earle Hightower, is also a contrtibutor to The Fund For Animals.

I'd bet PETA was involved somehow, too.

I'm sure they had a hand/paw stuck in there some where down the line.

Ok,stupid question: Is this Institute for public safety a "real" government dept? It sounds like one.Or at least it sounds familiar to one.
From what I remember hearing on nbc25 in the past,I don't think the population is "critical" yet,I think the bears are getting less afraid of people and are showing up in yards(which USED to be THEIR yards) and causing a mess.And mama bears can be real *itches when they wanna ya know
I don't remember if they're causing any kind of crop damage up there.Like maybe the deer do to the orchards and such.

IPS is not governmental -- private org.

Bears have been causing lotsa problems in Garrett Co. for years up there, destroying crops, beehives, birdfeeders, and coming onto peoples' porches to eat garbage, etc. etc.

Then of course there are always the "smart" people who try to feed the cute furry animals!

Almost ran into one in the dark a couple of months ago while honeymooning near Deep Creek Lake.

I bet they could mess up your vehicle! I know first hand about deer damage,I don't want to find out about a bear.

I'm a member of PETA :-X
I hadn't heard anything about this but then again I don't always read every e-mail I get from them...

[quote=feistyirishbabe,Oct 20 2004, 12:09 AM][/quote]
I'm a member of PETA :-X
[/quote]
Sorry to hear that, Feisty.

I don't see direct PETA involvement here, but here's the latest:

Judge rejects bid to stop Md. bear hunt
By STEPHEN MANNING, Associated Press Writer
Last Updated 3:39 pm PDT Monday, October 18, 2004
UPPER MARLBORO, Md. (AP) - A judge Monday rejected a lawsuit filed by animal protection groups to block Maryland's first bear hunt in 51 years.
The state Department of Natural Resources has scheduled a weeklong hunt for late October in two western Maryland counties for hunters to kill 30 black bears to thin the population.



The plaintiffs had argued that the state missed key deadlines while planning the hunt and that the state's estimate of the population - 500 black bears - was a miscount.

"When you are hunting bears for their heads and hides for the first time in a half-century, the agency has a clear duty to follow the law," said Fund for Animals president Michael Markarian.

But Prince George's County Circuit Judge Thomas Smith ruled the plaintiffs did not prove they would be irreparably harmed if the hunt went forward.

Officials said the state's bear population has exploded from only a dozen in 1956. Some bears have damaged property in their search for food or been involved in car collisions.

New Jersey wildlife officials approved a bear hunt in that state this year - its first in 33 years - but the hunt has been blocked by the state's environmental commissioner. Hunting organizations have sued to force the six-day hunt to be held in December.

__________________

Some info on The Fund For Animals -- These folks hang with PETA and ALF:

The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) has a how-to guide for committing arson on their Web site,7 and one of their key members is awaiting trial in the Netherlands for murdering a political candidate who defended pig-farming.8 As for PETA, its spokesman, Bruce Friedrich, recently issued the following statement: “If we really believe that animals have the same right to be free from pain and suffering at our hands, then of course we’re going to be blowing things up and smashing windows … . I think it’s a great way to bring animal liberation, considering the level of suffering, the atrocities … .”9

Even if mainstream animal rights groups don’t participate in terrorist acts, they don’t condemn it, either. “We’re very aware of [ALF’s] activities,”10 said Heidi Prescott, national director of the Fund for Animals, an anti-hunting group in Silver Spring, Md. “[We don’t] participate in liberation, but we’re mighty happy when we hear about it.”11

PETA has even gone so far as to fund violence against its enemies. In 1995, Americans for Medical Progress obtained tax records proving that PETA gave $3,500 to the Rodney Coronado Support Committee, an ALF offshoot that was named after a member who was convicted of firebombing a research facility at Michigan State University.12 Comparing the violent ALF to the Underground Railroad, PETA President Newkirk openly admitted to contributing to the defense funds of eco-terrorists.

There's no question but that ALF is an international terrorist organization. PETA tries to hide their crimes, but ALF makes no such attempts.

They're worried about a bear hunt when there's folks tying dogs to railroad tracks?

Where are their priorities?

That incident with the dog was in West Virginia, not Maryland. Not that they ought to be interfering with the bear hunt.

You just don't understand their priorities and how these rabid animal-rights groups think, Sheash. And, to quote Martha, "that's a good thing".