Originally published in the CT Mirror
by Priscilla Feral
How unfortunate for Dr. Joseph Bentivegna that he’s an ophthalmologist with such a myopic view of Connecticut’s black bears and environmentalists who seek to protect them.
However, we do believe in science and understand black bear behavior. Hence, we know that fear-mongering or killing bears will not keep Connecticut residents, or black bears, safe.
But public education will.
Why? Because anyone with common sense knows killing some bears won’t do anything to educate the ones who survive a trophy hunt not to be opportunistic feeders.
Researchers in other states have found that hunts do not eliminate the bears who wildlife agencies have deemed so-called “nuisance bears.” Based on 10 years of data, researchers in Wisconsin concluded that the bears killed by hunters were not the same bears who people complained about elsewhere.
It is clear Bentivegna is ignorant when it comes to black bear behavior, or he is just choosing to ignore the facts to push his hunting propaganda. His claim that in several years the bear population will exceed 5,000 is unfounded.