HARTFORD, CT — The legislature’s Environment Committee voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to kill legislation that would allow for a bear hunt in Litchfield County.
The committee voted 21-8 against the legislation, which was supported by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
The committee mostly heard testimony last week calling for the defeat of the legislation. Biologists and wildlife experts advocated in favor of a hunt to help control the population, which is growing around 10 percent per year.
But environmentalists said there are other non-lethal ways to cut down on the increasing interactions between bears and humans or livestock.
Friends of Animals said in a statement that they are “relieved that common sense and truth prevailed among legislators on the Environment Committee who shot the vile bear trophy hunting bill down.”
They said the state needs to “advance education without shooting animals to death, and can’t be the mouthpiece for only 1 percent of state residents who hunt.”
