Baltimore Sun
Letters to the editor
August 14, 2004

Bears shouldn't pay the price for sprawl

The editorial supporting the hunt of black bears was a disappointing departure from The Sun's past, principled stand against such a hunt ("Maryland's bear season," editorial, Aug. 3).

As The Sun knows well, we human beings nearly hunted the Maryland bear to extinction before reintroducing it to the wilder portions of the state. Now we're reneging on the promise we made to future generations by allowing development to creep farther and farther into the bears' habitat, and planning to kill them if they dare to stick around.

The question is not whether the bears will invade the Washington and Baltimore suburbs, as the editorial implies, but whether the suburbs' relentless, land-hungry expansion will further invade the areas we ought to protect for wildlife.

Is it really fair to ask the tiny population of black bears -- and most of God's other creatures -- to pay with their lives merely to save us the trouble of planning our own habitat?

Parris N. Glendening
Annapolis

The writer is a former governor of Maryland

© 2004 The Baltimore Sun