Letter to DNR Offering $75,000 for Solving Bear Problems

March 17, 2004

Mr. Paul A. Peditto, Director
MD DNR - Wildlife and Heritage Service
Tawes State Office Building, E-1
580 Taylor Ave.
Annapolis, MD 21401

Dear Paul,

As you know, The Fund for Animals (Fund) and The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) oppose the DNR’s current plan to authorize Maryland’s first black bear hunt in a half century. As a means of offering a constructive response to this policy conflict, we advance a proposal for your consideration that would provide practical, humane, and effective solutions to bear-human conflicts in Maryland, in a way that would benefit your agency, Maryland’s citizens, and the state’s small bear population.

We propose that, if the plan for a recreational bear hunt is withdrawn, The Fund and HSUS will collectively contribute up to $75,000 to the DNR for a program centered on bear damage compensation and bear-human conflict management. Similar to a federal Pittman-Robertson grant, we propose a 3-to-1 matching grant in which our groups would contribute up to $75,000 and DNR would contribute up to $25,000, in order to implement an effective program that mitigates problems caused by bears in western Maryland.

These funds would be used to compensate individuals who document bear damage and to implement an aversive conditioning and bear education campaign in bear-occupied areas. With the infusion of funds from The Fund and The HSUS, the DNR would be able to pay 100% compensation to Maryland’s farmers for all eligible bear damage claims through the Black Bear Compensation Program. Providing 100% compensation to those who sustain damage is virtually unprecedented in the United States, and leaves Maryland citizens with a benefit that citizens of other states with bears do not receive. Reported annual bear damage has ranged from $10,389 to $41,445 since 1996, and an effective public education campaign should keep costs on the lower end of this cost range. Please see the attached list of current costs.

Additional funds made available by the groups would be devoted to hiring additional personnel to augment the DNR’s existing nuisance bear management costs. As part of this proposed partnership, we would also work with DNR to create a “Be Bear Aware” educational program to teach citizens how to solve bear conflicts by minimizing odors and the availability of food and trash – allowing for an expansion of the DNR’s existing educational efforts. We would also like to help DNR, in whatever ways we can, take enforcement actions to curtail the problem of people failing to store food and trash properly in bear-habituated areas. Finally, we would like to bring Steve Searles of “Bear Affairs” back to Maryland to assist with any personnel training that may be needed, so that DNR responders have the benefit of the best-available bear management techniques.

We understand that hunters have been a traditional funding source for wildlife management activities, and as the number of hunters declines in Maryland and nationwide, we believe it is time for other constituencies to step up to the plate with funds. With the DNR’s current budget constraints, we hope that our proposal will help the agency obtain funding from a new source to the benefit of all parties involved.

In fact, we know that this proposal would bring a great deal more funding into DNR than the proposed bear hunt would. It would allow farmers to be fully compensated for bear damage to beehives, crops, livestock, and poultry, and it will help prevent damage by teaching people how they can avoid problems with bears. And this program, developed so well in California by Mr. Searles, will also teach bears that it is in their best interest to rely on natural foods and to stay out of human-occupied areas.

As you well know, wildlife and people will interact when they share an overlapping range. This is true for all wildlife species, including bears. The challenge for us as a society is to diminish the frequency of these encounters and manage the encounters in a humane and effective manner when they occur. We believe our proposal will allow for better mitigation and management, and we hope you agree.

Thank you for your consideration of this proposal. We look forward to hearing from you, and to working with DNR in a partnership that will benefit Maryland’s citizens and wildlife.