No (13 percent) = 22

TOTAL VOTES: 173

Selected comments:

• There are plenty of places to chase the bears, let’s leave them some room to be bears.

— Alex Rodriguez, Anchor Point/St. Louis

• I think that most recent proposals don’t expand the area of protection, but merely insure what has been the status quo.

— George Matz, Fritz Creek

•This Board of Game will keep trying to kill more bears until its composition changes substantially as long as there is the opportunity Removing the opportunity by adding the Kamishak area to the refuge would be the surest solution to the problem. I am all for it.

— Duane Howe, Homer

• Photographing those bears brings significantly more money into the Homer economy than hunting them does.

— Tom Collopy, Homer

• Killing for the sheer joy of killing is nuts. Subsistence is another subject. No one has the right to kill just for the sake of a trophy on the wall.

— Will Files, Homer

• We need permanent protection for these bears so this issue doesn’t come up every year. It is unethical to hunt bears that are so habituated to humans.

— Donna Martin, Homer

• Just like there are certain places you should not drill for oil or mine for gold. There are certain places that you should not hunt bears, this is one of those places!

— Dave Bachrach, Homer

• I add my voice to the hundreds, nay thousands, that want to protect the McNeil Falls bears — famous the whole world over!

— Keith Hicks, Beavercreek, Ohio

• Continuing protection of the Kamishak Special Use Area is encouraging, but the increased and unsustainable kill in the nearby Katmai Preserve must be stopped or the McNeil region will continue its decline in viewable bears.

— John Toppenberg, Soldotna

• I vote yes! These majestic animals need to be protected. Let’s give something instead of always taking away.

— Carole Cardarelli, North Syracuse

• The recent decision by the Board of Game really does nothing to protect the bears in the long term. The current attitude of the BOG will inevitably lead to this issue coming up in the future. There needs to be clear legislation preventing back door politics and rabid special interest hunting groups from forever changing this valuable resource area.

— Bob Gengler, Eagle River

• I voted to expand the sanctuary. The bears deserve it. And we misguided humans need to look out for other critters — we’ve grabbed enough.

— Barbara Nicholson, Glenview, Ill.

• There are plenty of places to hunt bears in Alaska. The experience of seeing them up close in the wild is incomparable. We should have more or these places, not less.

— Catherine McCarthy, Homer

• Our bears have been allowed to mingle with and have been allowed to have human contact, we need to ensure they will have an area of safety to live their lives. We know that they cannot say “stop, let me live in safety.” We need to guarantee their safety.

— Rejeana DeHart, Adelanto, Calif.

This week’s poll question:

On April 3, Alaskans are being asked to go to the polls to cast an advisory vote on the following question: Shall the legislature adopt a proposed amendment to the state constitution to be considered by the voters at the 2008 general election that would prohibit the state, or a municipality or other subdivision of the state, from providing employment benefits to same-sex partners of public employees and to same-sex partners of public employee retirees?

• Yes. •No.