Black Bear

They came bearing "No Bear Hunt" stickers, pleading to the House Environmental Matters Committee to ban the black bear hunting that was allowed last year for the first time in more than 50 years . More than two dozen supporters of the bill said the killing of 20 bears last fall in the first state-sanctioned hunt of bears was a mistake that must not be repeated. "I am not against hunting," said Del. Barbara Frush, a Democrat representing Prince George's and Anne Arundel counties and the committee member who sponsored the bill.

Jim Galbreath went to the front door of his house in northern Harford County about 9: 30 p.m. Tuesday to call the family's cat -- and instead found a black bear weighing about 150 pounds walking around the front yard."

50 years ago:Diplomas were presented to 146 young men and women at the 49th annual graduation exercises of the Westminster High School Friday evening, June 10. Dr. P. M. Robinson, Brethren minister of Hagerstown, delivered the address to graduates. -- Democratic Advocate, June 17, 1949.75 years ago:Tuesday afternoon while ploughing his field near Oakland Mills, Woodrow Sullivan, one of our prominent farmers of that locality, was surprised to hear something walking near him. Looking back, he was almost scared out of his shoes to see a big, black bear following in the corn row about 100 feet behind the plow.

Peter Baker's journalFALL TURKEYThe five-day season that ended Nov. 10 resulted in a kill of 370 birds, 10 more than last year and above the 10-year average."

A judge gave the green light yesterday to Maryland's first bear hunt in 51 years when he refused an animal-rights group's request for an injunction to block the season, scheduled to start Monday. Prince George's County Circuit Judge Thomas P. Smith rejected several complaints in the suit whose plaintiffs included the Silver Spring-based Fund for Animals, and also observed that the bears had no legal rights. Smith dismissed as speculative the complaints of a Western Maryland property owner who contended in the Sept.

Teresa Oleszewski was driving to work one morning early last week when, she says, she saw a small creature amble onto the road about a block from her house in Shady Side. "We have deer and foxes and opossums and all other creatures," she said of the woods near her home. But she knew she was seeing something out of the ordinary. "It was just a little black bear," she said. It was, she added, about the size of a big dog. Hers was just one of many sightings of the young bear last week in southern Anne Arundel County, where it apparently arrived after making its way north from St. Mary's and Calvert counties in the past two weeks, state Department of Natural Resources officials said.

OAKLAND - A confession: At this year's black bear hunt, I am rooting for the bear. Not every bear. Just one. With each black bear brought to the check station at Mount Nebo Wildlife Management Area, I hold my breath. Will the animal being weighed and inspected by state biologists be the one I held in my arms a little more than two years ago? So far, the bear known to the state as 472C4E7628, most likely a resident of Allegany County, has escaped hunters. The male bear must weigh about 200 pounds now, but when I saw him in April 2006, he and his three tiny den mates were nestled around their 238-pound mother, who was taking a nap induced by two tranquilizer darts.

Anti-hunting groups urged a House committee yesterday to continue a 50-year ban on a black bear season and block a request from sportsmen and state wildlife biologists to allow Sunday deer hunting on private land. The groups, ranging from the Fund for Animals to equestrian clubs, said the Department of Natural Resources had not used every nonlethal option to manage the two animals. Allowing Sunday hunting would scare off other recreational users, who outnumber hunters 10-to-1, on nearby public land while a bear hunt might harm a still-recovering population, they told the Environmental Matters Committee.

As the state's first black bear season in 52 years moves closer to its scheduled fall starting date, a new poll indicates that two-thirds of Maryland residents favor hunting as a way to control the bruin population. But animal rights groups called the poll a "sham" yesterday and vowed to stop the hunt, even going to court, if necessary. The survey of 831 people, released yesterday by the Department of Natural Resources was requested by a task force, appointed by then-Gov. Parris N. Glendening, which recommended a limited hunt.

THE MOVE TO GIVE Maryland a bear hunting season appears to be dead for this session of the General Assembly. It should stay that way for the simple reason that the proposed solution to the state's "bear problem" is more dangerous than the problem itself. That hasn't stopped the backers of a bear hunting season, including Western Maryland's Sportsmen's Association, state Sen. John J. Hafer, an Allegany County Republican, House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr., an Allegany County Democrat, and the Cumberland Times-News.