It’s past time for NJ’s bear hunt to be ended -- for good

                                                                                                        Bill Lea pic

In six days earlier this month, hunters killed 265 New Jersey black bears.  That’s an average of 44 bears, cubs and adults, a day. 

For the first three days, hunters were restricted to bows and arrows.  After that, archers and muzzle-loading rifle hunters were “allowed to participate,” as the Times of Trenton reported, as if discussing a party or a dance.   On Monday, Dec. 9, the firearms-only bear hunt resumes for six more days.

  

“Most of the bears harvested [so far] this year were culled in Sussex, Warren and Morris counties,” the story said, first using a euphemism more appropriate for vegetables than for innocent sentient beings, and then using a word that in wildlife management usually refers to removing a sick or weak animal from a herd or flock. 

But the 265 black bears just killed by hunters were not necessarily sick or weak -- they were simply “killable” -- that is, visible, possibly drawn by bait, or they just happened by . . . and so they were killed.  There was no selection of which bears should die; there were simply hunters out there ready to kill bears.

“Culling” is bad enough for the animals; indiscriminate killing is worse. 

All of which raises the question:  Why? 

Sometimes the reason given is that bears can be nuisances.  They may raid humans’ garbage cans or bird feeders, jeopardize pets’ safety, scare people.  But how many humans in bear country use bear-proof trash containers?  And what kind of enforcement occurs to assure they do?

The numbers of phone calls about nuisance bears are often cited as an excuse for the bear hunt.  But even if those numbers are valid, they would surely drop dramatically if people used bear-proof garbage containers. 

Without the recommended receptacles and without enforcement, what’s left?  A bear hunt, in which any bear in the hunters’ sights may be killed.  And that’s why this state’s bear hunt comes across as little more than a trophy hunt -- with innocent bears being killed.   

                                                                                Kehoe pic

I doubt that those hunting the bears are people irate that their garbage bins were raided; somehow, I think they’re just people who think it’s "sport" to kill bears (by whatever poacher-means necessary, like baiting). . . just people eager to brag about the bear(s) that didn’t get away. 

This bear hunt is a trophy-travesty fostered by the Division of Fish and Wildlife (DFW), whose bear-management plan is murderous, not humane or non-lethal.  It kowtows to hunters -- a teeny-tiny percentage of our population -- apparently without a single compassionate, or informed, thought about our black bears.

Isn’t it time for New Jersey residents, most of whom want only to enjoy our open spaces and wildlife, to take on DFW?  One animal advocacy organization, the Animal Protection League of New Jersey, has already been told that zero complaints about bears would still not halt the hunt. (See October 13 post.) 

Since then, the director of the Humane Society of the US-New Jersey highlighted for DFW reps the “out of touch, ineffective, counterproductive, and extreme regulations on the books such as those that allow bear baiting.”  He also “asked that they make even a mild effort to ticket garbage offenders in key concentrated places of complaints or problems.”   

But DFW reps “refused to even commit to that—refused to enforce their own regulation, which would cut down on complaints, which would cut down on “justification” for hunting.”  As a result, Director Brian Hackett concluded that “our DEP is more out of touch and extreme than those in Arizona, Wyoming, and other hunting-heavy states.”

Before Part 2 of the bear hunt can begin in December, let’s barrage Governor Murphy with phone calls, urging him to keep his campaign promise to end the hunt.  Despite his disclaimers, doing so is legally within his power -- and morally, he owes it to the bears.  His half-measure “compromise” last year didn’t satisfy anyone, them least of all.

Please phone the governor (609-292-6000)!

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