BEAR BILL VETO BAD FOR WILDLIFE

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, April 5, 1993                   TAG: 9304050240
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Bill Cochran
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
BEAR BILL VETO BAD FOR WILDLIFE
The bear chase season took still another unexpected turn recently, when Gov. Douglas Wilder vetoed a bill that would have given hunters the option of pursuing bears with their hounds into the night hours. At issue is who will manage our wildlife resources.
The veto was applauded by several animal-rights groups, who had pressured Wilder to act after failing to have the bill killed by legislators.
The Fund for Animals, a Maryland-based animal-rights group headed by Cleveland Amory, linked the veto with Wilder's recent success in limiting the sale of handguns.
"After soundly defeating the NRA's effort to continue the unrestricted sale of firearms in Virginia, Gov. Wilder has thwarted the gun lobby's effort to sanction the virtually unrestricted harassment of wildlife," said Heidi Prescott, the organization's national outreach director.
In its news release, the organization said that the chase season was enticing houndsmen to participate in a lucrative trade in bear parts, with gall bladders selling for as much as $2,500 on the black market. What it did not say is that the bill had a provision to help authorities crack down on the sale of bear parts. That, too, was killed by the veto.
The Fund for Animals called on the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries to end the bear chase season, but that didn't happen when the department met two days after the veto. The department preserved the chase season that it established last year, which permits hunters to pursue bears with their dogs during a four-week season as long as the bears are not killed or captured. Some have compared that to catch-and-release fishing.
The game department had intended for last year's chase regulation to encompass both day and night sport, but board members discovered upon passing the experimental season that the Virginia Code prohibited night hunting. That sent bear hunters to the 1993 General Assembly, for a harsh lesson in the fact that wildlife management and politics can make a perilous mix.
Just, prior to the veto, game biologists were poised to reinstate night hunting to the chase season, then backed off.
"We take the intent of the veto that the board is not authorized to grant night chasing or nighttime bear-hound training," said Bob Duncan, game division chief of the department.
What this means, bear hunters can expect to have a chase season this fall, but it will be limited to daylight hours. Game officials will not grant field trial permits to bear or hound clubs to extend the hunting hours, as it did last year.
Just a year ago, all of this might have resulted in considerable growling from bear hunters, who have been known even to snap at their friends when things don't go their way. This time they remained calm and courteous, happy to hold onto what they have. When Patty Armistead of Virginia Beach stood during the game department hearing to say, "Bear chasing can not be viewed as a sport," Cecil Boggs, a leader of the pro-hunting Virginia Bear Hunters Association, simply thanked her for helping emphasize the importance of bear.
Opposition to the chase season also was expressed by Larry Hakel, chief ranger of the Shenandoah National Park, who applauded Wilder's veto. He called for additional research to determine the impact of the chase season on bears and other wildlife before the practice is continued.
The game department has committed $45,700 to bear research in its 1993-94 budget. The money, by the way, will be provided by hunters, not animal-rights organizations.
The chase season was proposed last year only after extensive research, so it wasn't exactly a mistake that had to be remedied by the governor.
"I think you had all the known information on black bears when you acted last year," But Bristow, executive director of the game and fish department, told board members, who were doing some second guessing. "I don't think you have to apologize that you acted without knowledge."
The bear chase season creates an element of controversy even among hunters. But the big issue isn't whether or when to chase. The question is, who is going to manage wildlife resources? Is it going to be the governor's office? Politicians? Animal-rights groups?
Or is it going to be career wildlife biologists working with the best biological facts available and considering the desires of citizens?

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB