To the editor:
Regarding the Department of Environmental Conservation’s announcement that hunters killed a near-record number of New York’s black bears in 2015 (more than 1,700 animals), decimation of a quarter of the species is nothing to celebrate.
Black bears, including mothers, rarely attack when humans approach them and seek to avoid confrontation, so they pose little threat to us. And they play an important role in maintaining a healthy forest ecosystem.
These animals undoubtedly suffered while they were dying, and since black bear cubs stay with their mothers for about two years, it is nearly impossible that hunters did not kill mother bears, leaving their dependent young orphaned.
New York’s bear hunt is a cruel trophy hunt and is nothing to trumpet.
Michelle Kretzer
The PETA Foundation
Norfolk, Va.
