PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - A Maine judge says a hunting reform group’s case against the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife about tactics used in last year’s bear hunting ban campaign is moot.
Mainers For Fair Bear Hunting campaigned to end the use of bait, dogs and traps to hunt bears in Maine. Voters shot down the proposed ban at the polls in November. The group alleged that the state agency’s advocacy against the proposed ban constituted an illegal expense of public funds.
Superior Court Judge Joyce Wheeler’s ruling says the complaint “raises a potentially important legal question.”
She also says it is one the court should consider in the context of a “live controversy,” since the end of the election campaigns made the case moot.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.