No longer rare — 12/18/09 » Editorials » Daily Independent (Ashland, KY)

Editorials

Discussion

December 17, 2009

No longer rare — 12/18/09

State’s first bear hunt limited to 10 animals in three counties

Anonymous The Daily Independent Thu Dec 17, 2009, 03:55 PM EST

For the first time in more than a century, it will be legal to hunt bears in three Kentucky counties Saturday. Regardless of what one thinks about the sport of hunting, the fact that there are enough bears in Pike, Harlan and Letcher counties for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources to declare a limited, one-day bear hunt is further evidence of the continued success of wildlife restoration efforts in the state.

Black bears — plentiful in the state at the time of Daniel Boone and the other first settlers — were nearly absent from Kentucky for almost 150 years after intensive logging destroyed much of their habitat. About 25 years ago, the black bears started making their way back into southeastern Kentucky, and in the last decade, Steve Dobey, bear program coordinator for the Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, said the state’s bear population has grown so rapidly in Pike, Harlan and Letcher counties that a limited hunt is needed to help control the population.

Those participating in Saturday’s hunt must have purchased a bear hunting permit, and the bag limit is one bear per hunter. The entire hunt is limited to 10 bears total or five female bears, whichever limit hunters reach first.

Black bears have become so plentiful in Harlan, Pike and Letcher counties that they have become bothersome. At several apartment complexes near Pikeville, some residents have been fearful of letting their children play outside because of the bears coming by to raid the garbage cans. Bears also have discovered the trash cans at several campgrounds in the region.

The bear population is not just limited to those three counties. A number of bears have been spotted in Boyd County and in all neighboring counties, although they are not plentiful enough to warrant bear hunting — yet.

Unlike the elk the Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources has been importing from western states, no special effort was made to restore the state’s bear population. None was needed. Since bears have remained plentiful in the rugged mountains of neighboring West Virginia, it was just a matter of time before the bears rediscovered the hills of eastern Kentucky.

While we have no sympathy for poachers and others who hunt illegally, hunting can be an effective way of controlling wildlife population. Consider this: Without hunters, deer would be a much bigger problem than they are, and while they are beautiful to watch, deer already have helped themselves to so many gardens and caused so many highway accidents that some consider them more of a nuisance than an asset.

Well, we are a long way from having a bear problem in Kentucky that comes close to the deer problem, but we also have little doubt that long before Saturday ends, there will be 10 fewer male bears, five fewer female bears or some combination of the two in Letcher, Pike and Harlan counties — and residents who have had their garbage regularly raided by bears won’t miss them at all.

Text Only

Editorials

Not far enough
For the past three sessions of the Kentucky General Assembly, bills that would raise the minimum dropout age from 16 to 18 have been approved by the Kentucky House of Representatives by wide bipartisan margins only to die in the Senate without even a vote.
Now the Senate Education Committee has unanimously approved a dropout bill hailed as an alternative to the House bill, but it does not go nearly far enough. It is a halfway measure that would have only a limited effect on preventing teenagers from quitting high school before graduation and virtually assuring themselves of lives on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder.

February 6, 2012
Not their job
The local government committee of the Kentucky House of Representatives has wisely killed a bill — dubbed “Cooper’s Law” — that would have allowed the family of the Lexington toddler with cerebral palsy to have a playhouse on their property despite a deed restriction that apparently prohibits such structures.

February 6, 2012
Keeping FADE
Despite an increase in cost to the department, Carter County Sheriff Casey Brammell told the Carter County Fiscal Court that his department will continue to be active in the FIVCO Area Development Drug Enforcement (FADE) Task Force — at least for now.

February 4, 2012
Needed changes
The soaring enrollment that Kentucky’s community and technical colleges have experienced in recent years could come to a sudden end — or at least be slowed — as about 5,500 students in the statewide system that includes Ashalnd Community and Technical College are expected to lose their financial aid under new rules being implemented by the federal government.

February 3, 2012
Released early
While it is disappointing that 75 of the 952 prisoners granted early release in January have violated the terms of their releases, the good news is that none of the former inmates have been charged with new felonies. That’s an early, but positive, indication that the nonviolent felons released before their sentences were up have been carefully selected and are among those least likely to return to a life of crime.

February 2, 2012
Obese children
Almost a decade after former Gov. Ernie Fletcher called childhood obesity an “epidemic” in Kentucky, a majority of Kentucky adults still think that there are too many overweight children in the state and they place the bulk of the blame squarely on the shoulders of their parents.

February 1, 2012
Retiring
Dr. Gregory Adkins has served as president of Ashland Community and Technical College during a period of rapid growth and substantial changes. Adkins announced last week that he will retire June 30 after almost 11 years as the head of the school that now is located not only just off 13th Street in Ashland but also is in EastPark more than 20 miles from the Ashland campus.

January 31, 2012
Work at home
While it is not for everyone, for those with the right skills and talents, Kentucky Teleworks works. Just ask Alison Boskovic of Louisa.

January 26, 2012
Bengals leaving
The Cincinnati Bengals’ 15-year relationship with Georgetown College has ended. The Bengals announced Friday that the team will train this summer at its own Paul Brown Stadium instead of some 70 miles to the south of the Queen City in Georgetown.

January 26, 2012
Incentive to pay
With the state in dire need of additional revenue, Kentucky Budget Director Mary Lassiter said legislators would be asked to approve a tax amnesty plan to encourage businesses and individuals to pay the taxes they already owe. It is an idea that has worked in the past and can work again.

January 25, 2012
More Editorials Headlines

Editorials

Search Results

Discussion

No longer rare — 12/18/09

State’s first bear hunt limited to 10 animals in three counties

Site Map

Contact Us