The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors is opposing the state Department of Fish and Game’s proposal to allow bear hunting for the first time in the county.
With a 4-1 vote Tuesday, the supervisors agreed to send a resolution to the agency expressing the board’s opposition to the planned expansion of black bear hunting.
“I don’t see the justification for an open season,” said 2nd District Supervisor Bruce Gibson. “There are adequate plans in place to deal with problem bears.”
Fish and Game is proposing to open the first bear hunting season in the county, in part, because data shows there’s an overpopulation of black bears in the state and the animals often get hit by cars.
Gibson, who requested the board send the resolution, also said he wasn’t “against hunting in general” but viewed the proposal as “almost universally trophy hunting.”
Fourth District Supervisor Katcho Achadjian was the lone dissenter in the vote.
Achadjian said he would have liked the board to request that Fish and Game hold a local hearing to discuss its proposal and get feedback from residents. Only after the hearing should the board decide whether to send the resolution, Achadjian said.
The three public hearings on the proposal, which will be voted on April 21 via teleconference, are being held out of the area.
Third District Supervisor Adam Hill said it was inexcusable for Fish and Game to propose expanding bear hunting to the county without holding a local public hearing on the plans.
He also noted that in the past five years there only have been five local incidents involving damage with black bears, some of which have been hit by vehicles while trying to cross the Cuesta Grade.
Atascadero resident Eric Greening said bears getting hit by cars doesn’t justify killing the animals.
“We haven’t opened season on domestic cats because they get hit by cars,” Greening said.
The agency submitted a similar plan last year, however, the Fish and Game Commission tabled the issue to allow further study of the proposal that drew intense criticism.
The majority of the bears that would be hunted in the county would be in the Los Padres National Forest — also home to the Lopez Lake Recreation Area — if the proposal is approved, according to Fish and Game.
If the commission approves the proposal, it also would allow an unlimited number of black bears to be killed across the state and permit hunters to use GPS tracking systems on hound dogs to find the animals once chased up trees. Currently, there’s a 1,700 annual season limit for black bears.
Additionally, Fish and Game is proposing to significantly expand the hound dogs’ training season to include the majority of the bear-hunting season.
Lindy Owens of Los Osos believes the proposal is misguided and supported the board’s stance on bear hunting.
“It’s a violent and cruel approach to wildlife balance,” Owens said.
Current sales of bear-hunting tags generate about $900,000 for state coffers.
Comments on the proposal can be sent to the Fish and Game Commission by e-mail at fgc@fgc.ca.gov or mailed to California Department of Fish and Game, Wildlife Branch, Dr. Eric Loft, 1812 Ninth St., Sacramento, CA 95811.
For more information about the proposal, call Loft at (916) 445-3405.
