 |
| |
| Push is on for a new bear hunt Friday, September 9, 2005
There are too many black bears in New Jersey, and allowing annual hunts is the best way to stabilize their numbers, according to a New Jersey Fish and Game Council report released Thursday. In its comprehensive Black Bear Management Plan, the first such policy analysis such 1997, the council reported that contraception and relocation are too unproven, costly and slow. "Problems associated with black bears will continue to grow unless the population is stabilized," the report cautioned. "A tool that will quickly reduce the population is necessary," and that, members concluded, means an annual hunt. The recommendation - and a public hearing set for Sept. 21 at Rutgers University - is sure to renew an intense debate over how to live alongside the state's burgeoning bruin population. When New Jersey reopened its bear hunt for six days in December 2003, during which 328 bears were killed, environmental officials faced sharp attacks from state and national animal-rights activists. No hunt was allowed in 2004. Bear hunt opponents criticized the management plan Thursday as a predictable miscalculation by a group dominated by hunters. They stressed a fact noted in the council's report: No one in New Jersey has been killed by a black bear since 1852.
"We don't have a bear problem - we have an overdevelopment problem," said Stuart Chaifetz, director of the Animal Protection Political Action Committee in Manalapan. "This is a human problem, and we should deal with these animals honorably." Opponents noted that officials have failed to control bears' access to garbage, which teaches the bruins to roam neighborhoods for food and may help produce cubs by helping keep the animals' body fat high. They have urged officials to enforce the state's ban on feeding bears, expand educational campaigns about garbage management and pursue bear contraception programs. "There's never been any effort at non-lethal measures," said Terry Fritzges, legislative coordinator for New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance in Englishtown. "It's always: They have to hunt." Bradley Campbell, as commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection, retains ultimate authority over whether New Jersey has a hunt. He said in June that he would support a hunt this year. He won't make his final decision until the public weighs in on the plan. In 2004, after the hunt, total bear nuisance complaints declined by nearly half. During the first six months of 2005, they increased by 60 percent, to pre-hunt levels. Last year, Campbell did not follow the council's recommendation and acted to block another bear hunt. A sportsman's group sued the DEP, and the Supreme Court found that Campbell could overrule the council. It also found that there was no factual planning basis for the hunt at that time, given that the state's bear management plan was so out-of-date. Judges instructed the council and Campbell to update the plan. That was the updated document released by the DEP on Thursday. Although much of the document echoes the earlier report, it includes a suggestion to spend $1.25 million statewide on annual bear management initiatives, such as education and research, and grants for communities to help purchase screw-top garbage cans. The report estimates the number of bears statewide is 1,600 to 3,200. Bears have been spotted in all 21 counties this year, but live mostly in northern Passaic, Morris and Sussex counties. In that part of the state, there are as many as seven bears per square mile, the council reported. The council's goal is to cap the bear population at one bear per 2½ square miles. E-mail: carroll@northjersey.com |
Copyright Infringement Notice User Agreement & Privacy Policy
|
