Monday, February 22, 2010
Bear Shooting Proposal Dropped
KENTUCKY....
A proposal in the state legislature that would have given Kentuckians authority to shoot bears within 30 yards of their homes without facing prosecution will no longer be pursued. The protection would have been available only to people who reasonably believed shooting was necessary to protect against death or serious injury. However, State Representative Rick Nelson (D-Middlesboro) says he won't push the measure he filed in January. Estimates of Kentucky's bear population range from 100 to 350. The proposal had drawn criticism from the Humane Society of the United States and the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources who said the language in the proposal created the potential for bears innocently walking across a homestead to be shot.
A proposal in the state legislature that would have given Kentuckians authority to shoot bears within 30 yards of their homes without facing prosecution will no longer be pursued. The protection would have been available only to people who reasonably believed shooting was necessary to protect against death or serious injury. However, State Representative Rick Nelson (D-Middlesboro) says he won't push the measure he filed in January. Estimates of Kentucky's bear population range from 100 to 350. The proposal had drawn criticism from the Humane Society of the United States and the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources who said the language in the proposal created the potential for bears innocently walking across a homestead to be shot.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 4:27 PM 
