I was horrified to read that a group of minors shot and killed a mother bear, leaving her orphaned cub on its own before it was thankfully rescued and sent to a rehabilitator (“Orphaned bear cub rescued in Bristol,” June 8). There are so many things wrong with this story: first, that the bear was a nursing mother; second, that there was seemingly no reason why she was slaughtered; and third, that the bear was poached out of season.

The image invoked by Vermont Game Warden Whitlock that “[t]he cub had stayed all this time near its dead mother’s body,” is just heart wrenching. The only silver lining to this story is that Whitlock was able to rescue the cub in time, and that its recovery is looking promising.

At the absolute least, these minors should face fines and lose hunting/fishing privileges for a number of years, if not forever. What they did was not only illegal, but it was inherently cruel and shows a serious lack of moral judgment and respect for life. Vermont’s wildlife belong to all of us, and — minors or not — these individuals need to face serious consequences for their actions.

There needs to be accountability!

Beverly Soychak

Monkton