PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 8, 2020
Six years after an initiative to ban bear-baiting by hunters was defeated at the polls for a second time, proponents of that effort are taking a new approach, through the state’s rule-making process. In a virtual public hearing Wednesday, state biologists heard comments on a petition that seeks to establish a bear-baiting season and a limited baiting permit program that would be phased out gradually and eliminated after 2029. In the hour-long hearing Wednesday held by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, 13 people testified against the petition and four supported it, including John Glowa of China, who submitted the petition. IFW has received over 200 comments on the proposal since the petition was submitted.