I almost had a collision with a black bear about two months ago right here in my complex (morris-northern NJ)
I'm in Monmouth there was a sighting recently in Freehold.
In fact there have been verified sightings in all 21 counties.
Couple of years ago a bear lost the longevity race with an SUV in the S turns on Rt. 23N just past the dam. The SUV could be fixed. The bear - not so much.
But I guess it's OK because your NJ neighbors don't want to hunt the pretty cuddly bears...
It should be mandatory that anyone who puts a 'ban the NJ bear hunt' bumper sticker on their vehicle also install a bear baiting station in their back yard so they can have the opportunity to have close encounters of the bruin kind with their favorite wild animal...