For over 30 years, it was illegal to hunt black bears in New Jersey, but that changed in 2003 when the state lifted the ban and began to issue permits for limited bear hunting seasons.
Advertisement
Metler has condemned this recently introduced competition which encourages hunters to kill as many bears as they can, arguing that more humane strategies could be adopted, in order to prevent bears from entering populated areas.
“Because we have such a dense population in the northwest part of the state, they are moving out from that and expanding their range”, said Carole Stanko, acting chief of the DEP’s Bureau of Wildlife Management.
Tittel said the focus should be on teaching people how to deal with bears, bear-proofing properties, reducing food sources, like garbage, and other non-lethal bear-management methods. The Fish and Game Council’s expanded trophy hunt, as well as its endorsement of baiting, is cruel, scientifically unjustified, at odds with public opinion, and caters to a small but vocal club of self-interested individuals who wrongly believe these animals do not deserve protections.
And the New Jersey public has also been a vocal participant in the debate.
But the Bear Education and Resource (BEAR) program says black bears are misunderstood.
Can you hear something that this New Jersey Bear is trying to think about? A total of 298 black bears were killed over the same amount of time during the following hunt in 2005. “We’re putting science and data to use, it’s not willy-nilly”.
According to state officials, there are presently about 3,500 bears in New Jersey north of Interstate 80, a region known as “bear country”. “It’s not a sustainable number they are looking at”.
Advertisement
With this year’s hunt reaching its third day on Wednesday, the death toll is up to 309 black bears – with four days left to go.
