Photo: Paulius Peciulis/AP.
This young bear was recorded by a hunter in the forest calmly feasting on baits in Pabradė, Lithuania, in June.
When I was young, I was surprised when my conservationist mother told me that hunting organizations like Ducks Unlimited were often sollid partners in protecting nature. But when I thought about it, I reaized that, of course, if you’re a duck hunter, you want enough ducks to hunt, and that means protecting their habitat.
Something similar may be the thinking of the Lithuanian hunters in today’s story who refused to shoot a bear.
Bears have started reappearing in small numbers, typically wandering in from neighboring countries such as Latvia and Belarus, where small bear populations still exist.
From the Associated Press in Warsaw via the Guardian: “A young female bear caused a stir after wandering out of the forest and into the leafy suburbs of the Lithuanian capital.
“For two days, the brown bear ambled through the neighborhoods of Vilnius, trotted across highways and explored backyards – all while being chased by onlookers with smartphones and, eventually, drones.
“The government then issued a permit allowing the bear to be shot and killed if it became aggressive and posed a threat to human life.
“That did not go down well with Lithuania’s hunters who, aware that there were only a tiny number of the protected species in the entire country, refused.
“The Lithuanian association of hunters and fishermen said it was shocked by the government’s approach.
“The association’s administrator, Ramutė Juknytė, said the bear was a beautiful young female who was about two years old and did not deserve to be shot. ‘She was scared but not aggressive. She just didn’t know how to escape the city, but she didn’t do anything bad,’ he said.
“The organization tracks the movements of bears. It believes there are only five to 10 bears in the Baltic country but does not have a precise number.
“The drama began [when] the bear entered the capital. It was the first time in many years that a bear had entered the city and it became a national story. The animal came within about 2-3 miles of the city center.
“Since causing a stir with their permit to kill the bear, Lithuanian authorities have been on the defensive. The deputy environment minister, Ramūnas Krugelis, said that the kill permit had been issued purely as a precaution in case the bear posed a threat, according to a report by the Lithuanian broadcaster LRT.
“The hunters proposed a more humane approach: sedation, tracking and relocation.
“As the debate over the bear’s fate unfolded, she took matters into her own paws and wandered out of the city. …
“Brown bears are native to the region and were once common. They were wiped out in Lithuania in the 19th century as a result of hunting and habitat loss.
“In recent years, they have started reappearing in small numbers, typically wandering in from neighboring countries such as Latvia and Belarus, where small bear populations still exist.
“Bears are protected under Lithuanian and EU law as they are considered a rare and vulnerable species in the region.” More at the Guardian, here.
Do you or your family members hunt? Over time, I’ve seen repeatedly that real hunters are supporters of gun-safety laws as well as conservation. They are definitely not the people who buy machine guns and shoot up schools. I hope that more and more, hunters will be the ones leading the charge for safety laws. Their viewpoint probably carries the most weight.
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