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New Jersey Black Bears Grow Brazen, Prompting First Hunt in Five Years
New Jersey, the most-densely populated U.S. state, will hold its first black bear hunt since 2005 after more than 1,200 incidents were reported this year.
The number of bears in northwestern New Jersey has grown to more than 3,400 from 500 in 1992, according to a Department of Environmental Protection press release today. From Jan. 1 to June 20, 13 “aggressive” bears were captured and put down, compared with eight in the same period of 2009, the agency said.
“Although I respect that some New Jersey residents are opposed to hunting bears, hunting is the only proven and most cost-effective method of wildlife population control, and it is utilized successfully by other states with viable bear populations,” Bob Martin, the department’s commissioner, said in the statement.
The new bear-management policy, approved by Martin after a unanimous recommendation from the State Fish and Game Council, includes further public education and research on bear habitats in addition to non-lethal bear-management techniques, according to the press release. Previous policies that have included the killing of bears rankled animal rights groups.
“Hundreds, if not thousands, of bears walk right by houses,” said Patrick Carr, supervising biologist for the DEP’s fish and wildlife department. “But certain bears will attempt to break into a house, and those are the bears we kill.”
Venturing Into Cities
The DEP said there have been several incidents with aggressive black bears in recent weeks. The animals, which can weigh more than 600 pounds (272 kilograms), have been encountered in all 21 New Jersey counties, and more have been sighted in suburban towns and urban areas, the department said.
This year’s six-day hunt is scheduled for December in a 1,000-square-mile area north of Route 80 that spans Morris, Sussex, Warren and Passaic counties.
About 5,000 of 10,000 available hunting permits are expected to be issued this year, Carr said, adding that an estimated 250-350 bears will be culled. About 300 bears were killed in the 2005 hunt, and about 330 were killed in 2003, the state said.
Jeff Tittel, New Jersey director of the Sierra Club, America’s oldest environmental organization, said the hunt is “more about political science than real science.” Governor Chris Christie, the first Republican elected New Jersey governor since 1997, said he supported hunts during his campaign.
“This hunt won’t do anything with the nuisance bears,” Tittel said today in a telephone interview. “While the hunters are out in the woods going after the docile bears, the nuisance bears hiding under porches and in neighborhoods will still be causing problems.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Justin Doom in New York at jdoom@bloomberg.net
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