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Oct 23, 2007 6:42 am US/Eastern
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Black Bear Hunt Begins Despite Activists' Protests
by Mary Bubala
WESTERN MARYLAND (WJZ) ―
Maryland's black bear hunting season opened Monday with a record-large bruin and a survey from the Humane Society of the United States showing public disapproval of the hunt.
Coty Jones, 20, of Fishing Creek downed the 615-pound, eight-feet-tall male with her rifle.
Mary Bubala reports on the controversy over the bear hunt.
Some 200 hunters headed into the woods Monday looking for bears, despite protests to stop them.
There were cries for action in Annapolis as dozens of animal rights activists called on the governor to halt Monday morning's bear hunt in far Western Maryland.
DNR experts believe Western Maryland is home to more than 500 black bears. From garbage raids to crawling under houses, bear encounters and conflicts with humans are becoming more common.
To deal with it, the first option is to capture bears then scare them off into remote areas. But DNR believes hunting controls the bear population.
"At the end of the day, our bear population continues to grow and absent some check on that growth, those conflicts would become unmanageable," said Paul Peditto of DNR.
The bear population in Maryland was protected for 51 years, allowing them to recover from the brink of extinction. Despite protests three years ago, Governor Ehrlich opened the first bear hunt, lasting only a day when 20 bears were taken.
This time around DNR allowed for the killing of between 50 and 75 bears.
The first bear came in around 10:05 a.m.
Tonya Martin of Garrett County brought the 100 pound bear in.
The state Wildlife and Heritage Service, a division of the Department of Natural Resources, says despite unseasonably warm weather, 16 kills were registered by 5 p.m. in Allegany and Garrett counties.
If the quota isn't reached by Oct. 27, a second hunt will be held in December.
There are several states with much larger bear populations that do not allow bear hunting.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)