TRENTON, N.J. -- New Jersey wildlife officials are considering a plan to create bear-free zones as a way to manage the state's surging black bear population. The unusual approach would make urban and other densely populated areas off-limits to bears and restrict the bruin population in regions such as southern New Jersey, where the bears are far less plentiful than in the state's mountainous northwest region. "Most people agree, you don't want bears in areas like Hudson County, Union County and Middlesex County _ all urban areas with no real habitat for bears," Len Wolgast, a wildlife biology professor and...
