Trapping and dogs account for approximately 500 bear deaths each year. Bears are chased into trees by radio-collared hounds and then shot point blank while treed. Some hunters prefer yet another cruel, if not barbaric method, the unsporting practice of using snares and leghold traps where the animal is sometimes left to suffer for hours on end.
Baiting isn't any more "sporting" or reminiscent of a hunt - a bear is shot after being "trained" to return to a site, that day after day, is baited with piles of rotting food and garbage. Baiting only habituates bears to humans and they end up shot by both hunters and landowners alike. Sport baiting accounts for over 3,000 bear deaths every year.
"For animals that are overworked, underfed, and cruelly treated; for all wistful creatures in captivity that beat their wings against bars; for any that are hunted or lost or deserted or frightened or hungry; for all that must be put to death...and for those who deal with them we ask a heart of compassion and gentle hands and kindly words." Prayer by Albert Schweitzer
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