Records obtained by the Humane Society of the United States from the Missouri Department of Conservation Commission show that Missourians strongly oppose a proposed trophy hunting season on black bears. More than 2,000 comments were against the hunt, while approximately 100 were in favor.
On December 11 the Commission will vote on the bear trophy hunt proposal, which could allow up to 500 individuals to hunt Missouri’s few bears and sanction the killing of solitary cubs. Cub hunting is banned in the majority of states – making Missouri an outlier, alongside Alaska and New Jersey, in allowing this unethical practice.
Missouri’s black bear population was nearly extirpated from the state by the 1920s and the population is still not yet recovered. The MDC estimates the current population is between 540 and 840 bears, although these numbers have not been substantiated. Preliminary Missouri bear studies were funded by the Safari Club International Foundation, a sister organization to the largest trophy hunting group in the world, Safari Club International.
~ There’s more in today’s Journal ~
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