Free Republic

On November 14, 2005, DEP Commissioner Bradley M. Campbell approved the Comprehensive Black Bear Management Policy for New Jersey. The document was drafted by the NJ Fish and Game Council and subsequently revised after extensive public comments and a public hearing. The policy meets the mandate and requirements established by the NJ Supreme Court in its most recent opinion on black bear management.

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...

VERNON, N.J. -- A township police officer fatally shot a 100-pound black bear after he and another officer responded to a woman's call that two bruins had broken into her kitchen. Margo Spilotras had just finished taking a shower when she heard crashing and crunching sounds coming from the back of her home around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday. Clad only in a towel, Spilotras ran to the kitchen and found two bears -- a 400-pound mother bear and one of her cubs -- had slid open a screen door and were inside the home. The mother bear fled out the door...