[neverdem]

Another reason I'll never move to New Jersey.

[PeteFromMontana]

Environmentalists, Native Americans and hikers

__________________________________

I remember when the Washington D.C. crowd was insisting on re-introducing the wolf and grizzly bear in this area the locals pretty much had the attitude, hey reintroduce them in YOUR back yard, not ours! Now the enviornmentalists have programs to pay the farmers back for all of the dead livestock that these predators kill each year.

[randog]

Steve Ember, a plaintiff in the Delaware Water Gap suit and a prominent hike leader who has led hundreds of hikers into the park land, said, "Almost every hiker I've known has been thrilled to see black bears in New Jersey. The experience of observing wild bears ranks among the highest benefits of hiking. We don't want our bear population and our hiking experiences jeopardized."

I'm suddenly reminded of that Bozo and his girlfriend that were mauled and killed in Alaska a few months ago. They liked to get all cozy and cuddly with the bears, too.

[hellinahandcart]

"For many generations, the bear has lived in harmony with the Native Americans," said Santos Hawk's Blood, a plaintiff in the suit and a member of the Chiricahua Apache Nation and the Lone Warrior Society.

Uh huh. Y'all never ate bear meat or traded bear claws or anything like that.

Liar. I'm not sure I really believe you're an Indian.

[hellinahandcart]

"What our state needs to solve bear/human conflicts is not to shoot bears at random for trophies

Again with the trophy crap. People EAT them. I think there are bear recipes in Joy of Cooking.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Ahhh.... Santos Hawk's Blood - This guy is a puzzle. An AIM activist (A Marxist/Leninist group) and environmental whacko, but at the same time he is militantly Pro-Israel... Interesting character...

[Porterville]

That is so anti-gay... oh, not that kinda bear, the left are so confusing....

[HairOfTheDog]

Well, they are right that there is no hunting on National Park land, instead, usually overpopulation problems are either huge projects to move animals to another place with marginal payoff, or quiet slaughters no one hears about.

On this, the conversation can't continue to be run by the "we don't belong in the woods" crowd. I am sure this wacko coalition is right that the hunt is against Federal Law. But there needs to be a workaround for the Park Service to be able to call for hunts of overpopulated species, and a hunt is a darn fine way to do that. The forest is strong, and can 'bear' people on it hunting. Unlike us, animals live with real threats daily, and can keep them in perspective.

Beyond that, I am impressed that there are big tracts of land with bears on it still left in New Jersey. Being from a Western State, the whole state is smaller than one of our parks. That the bears are still there is a good thing. Let the Park Service manage their numbers so they stay there.

No comment on the goofy indian quote at the end of the article.

[tacticalogic]

Commerce Clause bump.

[appalachian_dweller]

>> "The bear is our four-legged relative who gave us the knowledge to heal ourselves. That is why we call him brother. While our brother bear has tried to share the land, his home, with us, he is blamed any time he shares the crops or the property of the people. He is called a 'problem' even if human neglect, ignorance, or carelessness is really to blame," Hawk's Blood said. <<

I nominate this as the most asinine statement I've heard this year.

[Newbomb Turk]

I wish every one of these nut jobs would run out and hug a bear right away today.

[d-back]

Got my Mossberg 695 slug gun zeroed and ready to go on Monday. I'll be on public land in Morris and Sussex counties, looking for black bear and deer (next week is the six-day firearm season for deer in NJ, too).

I'm guardedly optimistic that THIS time the hunt will go forward. Last time we had a RINO in office, Christie Whitman, who canceled the hunt. This time we have an avowed leftwing Demoncrat in office, JimMcGreevey, and the hunt looks like it's going forward.

A pox on RINOs. Most times they do more damage than the outright leftists.

Any other Freepers going to the woods for a bear next week?

[1Old Pro]

Let me just say.....Good Hunting!

[ZULU]

"What our state needs to solve bear/human conflicts is not to shoot bears at random for trophies, but rather to implement a progressive policy of aversive conditioning, .."

How about feeding them Democrats?? They are likely to cause excessive flatulence, thus discouraging the bears from attacking normal people.

[farmfriend]

Rights, farms, environment ping.

Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.
I don't get offended if you want to be removed.

[martin gibson]

"The bear is our four-legged relative who gave us the knowledge to heal ourselves. That is why we call him brother. While our brother bear has tried to share the land, his home, with us, he is blamed any time he shares the crops or the property of the people. He is called a 'problem' even if human neglect, ignorance, or carelessness is really to blame," Hawk's Blood said.

...I honestly don't know whether to laugh out loud or projectile vomit...

[69ConvertibleFirebird]

This begs the question: Does a bear sh_t in the woods...

while being hunted?

[Spok]

Bears in New Jersey? They must be Mafia...

[D. Grossman]

This bear hunt is an outrage! I'm sure funds could have been raised to move these majestic animals to a better location. Hunters in our country are no different than the poachers in Asia and Africa. If it weren't for the law holding them back, every bear, mountain lion and bald eagle would be exterminated. Education and relocation was the solution here, not the slaughter of these great animals. Let us show our world neighbors that we can co-exist with our large and exotic animals.