Hunting Black Bears Locally

Re “Loaded for Bear in the Southland Mountains,” Dec. 10: I am appalled and saddened that big game hunting still exists in California, especially here in the Southland. California allows up to 1,500 bears to be killed annually, and hunters such as Bill La Haye kill innocent black bears simply for sport. How would La Haye and his comrades feel if they were hunted just for sport?

I feel that the black bear and the rest of the forest’s lovely creatures have a right to live in tranquillity. What gives us the right to decide which animals live and which die? We continually keep encroaching upon their land by building a vast array of unnecessary homes and roads in such fragile and beautiful ecosystems. Each year the animals in the forest have less and less room to roam, while land-hungry people keep wanting more and more. If any animal population needs to be controlled, it’s the human population.

At the rate we’re going, black bears and forests will only be remembered in pictures by our future generations.

Adrian Fernandez

Chino Hills

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It’s a beautiful Monday morning in Los Angeles and I have to read an article about bear killing. Isn’t there enough death and destruction to write about? There is something very much wrong when a hunter claims that “hunting is an annual, spiritual pilgrimage.” Why is that worthy of press? How about more articles on people helping people? Why not more articles on people helping animals? It is offensive to give publicity to someone who claims that killing animals that can’t see or hear well is a spiritual experience.

Lloyd Nash

Van Nuys

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I enjoyed the story on bear hunting in the local mountains. It’s refreshing to occasionally see a balanced viewpoint on hunting in the media. While I’ve never hunted bear, I can relate to La Haye’s feeling of enjoyment and personal reward in getting away and into the wilderness, only a few miles from the city.

Unfortunately you’ve given away a secret some hunters like to keep quiet--that some very good hunting can be had in our backyard, as long as you’re willing to climb.

Peter Broussinos

Hermosa Beach

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A wildlife biologist who stalks and kills these magnificent animals? I would think someone with an interest in and love of wildlife would not be a hunter. Maybe that’s just me.

Debbie Curnutt

Huntington Beach