Black Bear Task Force

In January 2002, the Secretary of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) convened a Black Bear Task Force comprised of eleven Maryland citizens representing various stakeholder groups. The task force issued a draft report in January 2003, and then solicited public opinion from Maryland citizens through written comments and one public meeting held in Garrett County. In March 2003, the task force issued its Final Report and Recommendations to DNR regarding black bear management.

Predictably, the task force was stacked with hunting advocates, and narrowly voted to recommend a bear hunting season -- despite the fact that the hundreds of comments received from Maryland citizens opposed bear hunting by a five-to-one margin. The recommendation is now in the hands of the DNR, which is likely to initiate Maryland's first bear hunting season in nearly half a century unless the governor or legislature intervenes.

The task force spent more than a year reviewing voluminous scientific data on black bear populations, habitat, solutions to bear/human conflicts, and information from other other state wildlife agencies, and there was no information suggesting that hunting bears would reduce bear problems. The task force never produced a comprehensive analysis of black bear habitat needs or the impact that a hunt would have on the bear population and non-target species.

Yet the task force recommended bear hunting "to reduce human-bear conflicts" and "to target nuisance bears" -- a scientific impossibility as sport hunting of bears at random cannot target individual problem bears. The hunting recommendation was scientifically flawed, politically motivated, and contrary to the wishes of more than 80% of Maryland citizens who submitted comments on the task force report.

The Fund for Animals' comments on the recommendations are available by clicking here. Four task force members also submitted written statements opposing bear hunting:

• Dr. Ronald E. Barry, Biology Professor, Frostburg State University
• George Falter, Jr., Private Citizen
• Dr. John Hadidian, The Humane Society of the United States
• Michael Markarian, President, The Fund for Animals