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Bear Protection Bill

Summary of bear protection bill for the MN State Legislature

June 12, 2011 at 11:35PM

A number of people have weighed in on the background for a bill to protect the Research Bears of Ely Minnesota.

Here is a suggested guidline for that bill:

Part 1.There shall be no protection for any State owned wild, free-roaming game animal from hunting, based on frivolous claims such as: due to genetic anomaly (color of the skin, hair, fur, feathers, scales etc.) or geographic location (specific area), unless it is deemed necessary by the DNR for such reasons as its economic, educational or research value; this does not include research animals of any species, including those that carry colored ribbons/tape and/or radio collars, in units designated by the DNR.

Part 2. It is illegal to hunt and kill bears being studied for research purposes, that wear radio collars, GPS units or radio tracking devices, that also have brightly colored or florescent ribbon/tape attached to their collars or bodies, in Units 22, 24, 25 and 31 only.

Part 3. In the event that a research animal is killed, the DNR shall have the right to conduct a thorough review of the incident, to determine if it was a purposeful act or not, and it shall then determine the appropriate action, fine or punishment.

This could be amended to include bears being studied for research purposes by the State DNR.

So, a few questions for all of you – you can respond in a comment here, or e-mail me at TRMichels@yahoo.com. Please, no frivolous responses.

Is the passage of such legislation possible?

Will legislation such as this work?

Could you support this legislation, and if not - why not.

Th biggest objections to a bill protecting specific animals, is that it will lead to attempts to protect other animals for frivolous reasons, such as the color of their hair of skin. I cannot find any instance where protecting research animals has led to the protection of that entire species, a group of animals from another species, or an entire other species. If anyone knows of such an instance, please provide it to me.