Bear mauls W. Milford man

Daily Record ^ | May 24, 2003 | Rob Jennings

[ZULU]

A West Milford man was mauled by a 150-pound female bear in his backyard Friday as he attempted to rescue the family dog, in one of the most harrowing encounters yet between a person and bear in New Jersey.

Rob Skrypek, 35, of 21 Alvin Road, bled profusely after suffering "significant puncture wounds" in the hand, shoulder and head during the 2 p.m. attack, state Department of Environmental Commissioner Bradley Campbell said.

[ZULU]

Keep your garbage covered?? What crock. A bear can smell garbage even when its covered, and a bear can rip open the trunk of a car.

The only solution to New Jersey's Bear Problem is large scale hunting on a regualr basis so the bears there no longer view humans as a safe food source and their numbers are brought under control.

[Huck]

I live in bear country here in NJ and folks with any sense keep their trash cans in the garage.

[annyokie]

Solution: high-powered rifle.

[Huck]

The mother of the Sparta boy admitted to feeding bears a year ago

Imagine that. People acting like morons and then blaming the animals. What a shock.

[Fifth Business]

Bear arms... Bare arms...Bear fight. Somebody should be able to do something with that.

[Capriole]

He was unarmed as he confronted the bear...

What an idiot. What was he planning to do, argue with it? Debate it? Even then I think the bear would have had the advantage.

[Grut]

Bear arms... Bare arms...Bear fight. Somebody should be able to do something with that.

Pas devant les enfants, si vous plait!

[Larry Lucido]

What an idiot. What was he planning to do, argue with it?

He's been listening to Sarah Brady. He thought the bear would take the gun away from him and use it against him.

[Fifth Business]

I meant something in keeping with our standards of decency, like "Never bring bare arms to a bear fight," or the like.

[Malsua]

I keep reading these stories and I have to question which is the greater idiot. The woman who feeds the bears or the idiot writing the stories. I live in NW Jersey. I see bears ALL the time. The come on to my deck, they roam the yard etc.

I put my trash out right before they come to collect it, otherwise it gets strewn all over.

If the bear was attacking my dog, I'd shoot it with my shotgun. Damn the gun banning lefties.

Furthermore, we are not encroaching on the bears. I've lived up here for years. The bears have been much much worse in the past couple years than at any other time. All the land within about 20 miles from me is either watershed or protected or unbuildable. There are no "new" homes going up in the Vernon area. The one development that was going to go up was kiboshed. There is little to no development in this area. There are simply MORE bears. Some of the other solutions include NOT shipping them up to this area from Philidelphia or New York, which has and continues to occur. -Mal

[headsonpikes]

"What was he planning to do? ...Debate it? Even then I think the bear would have had the advantage."

Gotta be pretty stupid to take on a bear unarmed!

Although I knew a fellow who knocked out a bear with a punch.

Really. He was strong and lucky.

[TheSpottedOwl]

Notice how they're trying to blame the guy for protecting his dog? What this guy needs is a good shotgun, presuming that they're still legal in New Jersey.

Another problem is that the crazy enviromentalists refuse to understand that hunting animals periodically is a wise and humane practice. I believe that Virginia (correct me if I'm wrong or add more states) is having a huge deer problem. They're running out onto the highways, causing accidents and getting themselves splattered all over the place.

[genefromjersey]

A fellow in South Brunswick, NJ ( about 60 miles south of Vernon ) let fly with his trusty shotgun, when he saw a bear trying to break into a sleeping child's bedroom window.
The local cops debated for about a month over whether he should be charged with " unlawful discharge of a firearm "...

[LasVegasMac]

What an idiot. What was he planning to do, argue with it? Debate it?

He was using the 'ol UN tactic.

LVM

[toddst]

I believe that Virginia (correct me if I'm wrong or add more states) is having a huge deer problem.

Other states also. Of course the enviros answer to this is the re-introduction of wolves, to reign in the deer population. The enviros essentially want to turn back the clock and reduce the areas determined as "suitable" for human habitation. Take a look at what's going on in the northwest.

[ZULU]

You are totally correct.

There was a bear hunting season in Jersey until sometime in the 1960's-1970. During that time, black bears were confined to a limited area in the extreme northwest, near the Delaware Water Gap. When the bear hunt was stopped, their numbers gradually increased. The Jersey Dept. of Fish and Game encouraged this, as they anticipated a newer and better bear season. What they overlooked was the rising number of Bambidiots, mainly people moving out from the urbanized eastern part of Jersey and the New York Metropolitan area who think meat is grown in a supermarket and hamburger is made from a machine. Thanks to these morons, and those who pander to them, like former Governor Chrissie Whitman, the bear hunt never happened. Those who know bears and know what they can do warned the state, but the state chose to listen to people who learn zoology from Walt Disney flicks. Now its time to pay the piper and the hunt will be re-instated. Unfortunately, the cat is out of the bag, ot the bear is out of the woods, and there are now bears located throughout northern Jersey in the parks and woodlots where hunting them would be dangerous. Wait until they get into the Pine Barrens!!

What most of these city fools don't know is that after the Revolution, most of Jersey's forests, except for the Pine Barrens were all cleared out and the state was covered with thriving farms which fed their urban ancestors. Deer, bear, and most or all other wild game had been hunted out of existence.

With the rise in taxes and the problems involved in farming recently, most farmers sold out or moved out, and the cleared out farms and pasteur lands reverted to second growth or third growth forests, an ideal habitat for game animals, as the Native Americans knew and used to their advantage centuries ago by burning out forest lands. The deer came back and were hunted. Eventually, the bears came back, but, thanks to those city nuts, they weren't allowed to be hunted.

An animals that can climb a tree as fast as a squirrel, can out run a man, can grow to 600 lbs or more, eats anything it can catch, dig out, or find, and has the strength to go through a house door, rip open a car truck, or toss a German shepherd across a yard, simply does not belong in so densely populated and squalid a state as Jersey, unless its numbers are keep VERY low by intensive hunting.

I can't wait until a hungry bear chases a fawn into a school yard and rips it apart in front of a class load of bambiite kids!! They will get an education Disney cartoons will never provide!!

[Frapster]

What an idiot. What was he planning to do, argue with it? Debate it? Even then I think the bear would have had the advantage.

He was goin' ta grin down that there b'ar.

[ZULU]

Personally, I'd take the wolves rather than the bears.

Thre is no case on record of any human being ever being killed and eaten by wolves in North America. The North American Wolf is a different creature from its cousin in Eurasia, an animal which regularly attacked and killed people for food in the past.

But bears, and cougars provided with the opportunity, will kill and eat people, and they are doing this today.

Maybe there is a place for wolves, if they are controlled by hunting, in remote areas of New Hampshire, the Adirondacks, etc. But in thickly settled areas with humans around, they are no more suitable a forest resident than bears and cougars.

[ZULU]

Wasa his name Daniel Boone??

Carl Akley, a famous big game hunter in the early 1900's, strangled a leopard with his bare hands, but I wouldn't suggest either pasttime to a person who values their life.

[green team 1999]

in rush words -"the bear was trying to tell us something"