In NJ, to 'manage' wildlife means to kill it

Bear killing in northern NJ; deer killing here in Mercer county (and numerous other places): it’s a hunter’s world right now in this state.

Governor Phil Murphy won’t act to fully ban the bear hunt, which he could do if he wanted to and had moral conviction; Mercer officials won’t use non-lethal ways to deal with deer in area parks.  Humane action toward wildlife is at a standstill, while the pleas and arguments of wildlife activists are ignored, at least for now.  

Despite protests, billboards and anti-bear hunt phone calls to the governor, as well as efforts to provide him with alternative ways to end the hunt and information about successful humane bear practices elsewhere, he continues to make excuses and, for all practical purposes, cater to the bear hunters.

“The bear hunters,” it should be said, who represent less than one-half of 1% of the NJ population!  For their benefit, Gov. Murphy is resting on last year’s useless ban on bear hunts on state lands -- easily circumvented when hunters drive bears onto private land and kill them there.

Although the governor has expressed a wish for legislation to end the bear hunt, he conveniently omitted mention of Senate President Steve Sweeney, chair of NJ’s hunting caucus, who could be counted on to squash any bill aimed at ending the hunt.  (No conflict of interest there, right?)

We have to hope for behind-the-scenes talks that may ultimately result in a break-through for the bears.  As for what we might do now, a leader in the anti-hunt movement advises two action steps: (1) swamp Gov. Murphy with phone calls against the hunt (609-292-6000) early and often, and (2) send frequent tweets to the governor -- @GovMurphy (in the tweet box), and at the end: #SaveNJBears.

Most important of all for the bears’ sake: never give up!  

  

No picnic in Mercer parks

As part of its deer “management” program this year, the Mercer County Park Commission (MCPC) aims to bring the estimated 104 deer per square mile down to 20-25 deer.  This, so “the trees and overall forest” are preserved.

How will that happen during the Oct. 26-Feb. 15 hunt period?  How else but by killing numbers of deer.  

Between 10-14 licensed (bow and firearm) hunters “in good standing” with the Division of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) -- a dubious distinction if ever there was one -- were selected “to participate in the hunt to keep the growing white tailed deer population at bay,” according to the Oct. 31 Times of Trenton.

Much is made in that story of last year’s hefty venison donation, totaling hundreds of meals, to Mercer Street Friends.  A group somewhat incongruously named “Hunters Helping the Hungry” reportedly helped.  (Does that seeming PR ploy soften the blow of so many deer deaths?)

But there’s no softening for those familiar with this hunt, who have protested it in vain.  Area resident Lynn Ralph is one such person.  She found out about last year’s deer hunt one week before it started and did what she could: observing, getting petitions signed, taking pictures of arrows and deer left behind.   

                    APLNJ  pic

“The hunters used corn, salt lick, pumpkin and deer tail hair to lure the unsuspecting deer,” she says.  “Last year’s hunt created health hazards: deer carcasses were discovered by walkers and bikers; arrows were found that could have injured children and pets; one poor deer bled out at the edge of the lake and was never removed.” 

  

Two other protesters attended an MCPC meeting last March to discuss the hunt, show photos of what they had found and ask that non-lethal methods be looked into.  Their objections and suggestions went nowhere.

As with the bear hunt, it’s a hunter’s world right now in this state.   

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