newjerseynewsroom.com

BY PAT SUMMERS

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

With the New Jersey bear hunt scheduled to start next Monday and run for six days, activists against the hunt are pulling out all the stops. Their hope: convince Governor Chris Christie — the only one who can stop the hunt now — to cancel it.

Their second choice is to at least force postponement of the hunt through a temporary restraining order.

Two lawsuits, a report documenting political corruption, legislators' appeals and a rally in Trenton near the governor's office are among the efforts and events this week.

On Wednesday, the Animal Protection League of NJ (APLNJ) and Showing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK) held a joint press conference at the State House in Trenton. Reps of the groups discussed both the law suit filed Nov. 30 seeking to stop the bear hunt, and the release of an investigative report titled "Blood for Votes: Political Corruption and the New Jersey Black Bear Hunt."

As a pro-hunting political action committee (PAC) whose mission was to both elect Christie and reinstate a black bear hunt, NJOA reportedly spent nearly five times its legally allowed limit for campaign expenditures on a campaign rally for Christie.

Christie, who did not record the event in his campaign reports, allegedly rewarded NJOA by making the unprecedented move of appointing the PAC's president to his Environmental Protection transition team, which addressed hunting policy. Soon after that, a black bear hunting season was approved.

A copy of the SHARK report, "Blood for Votes," is available at http://www.christiescorruption.com. information about New Jersey's black bears: at www.aplnj.org and www.SaveNJbears.com.

Angi Metler, APLNJ executive director, indicates that the organization will file a second lawsuit today, asserting that the Division of Fish and Wildlife, DEP, has for the last 11 years failed to file an annual report. That has made it impossible for animal activists to learn what bear hunts ultimately cost taxpayers.

Further, she says that APLNJ, to obtain that information, has made 14 requests to DEP through the Open Public Records Act. The response: "no responsive records found." Which means, she explains, either DEP doesn't even know how much a bear hunt costs, or is not disclosing that information; "They're stonewalling," Metler says.

She points out that the key to manage bear populations is to lower their fertility, and the only way to do that is to cut down on the food supply — unsecured garbage, bird feeders and hunters' deer bait stations. The Division of Fish and Wildlife has repeatedly been criticized for not enforcing laws against feeding bears.

And now, she alleges, the DEP is trying to direct reporters and activists to areas where the fewest bears will be killed if the "corrupt and controversial" hunt goes ahead. If that sidelining effort succeeds, images and reports of bear slaughter would be minimized and seem less sweeping and horrific than in reality.

On another front, two state assemblymen and a senator have united in calling on Gov. Christie to postpone the bear hunt until all the facts have been reviewed. Their Nov. 9 letter to the governor urged him to review the findings of Rutgers professor Edward Tavss, who revealed miscalculations and over counts in complaints to DFW about bears.

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"I am not convinced at this time that a hunt is the proper solution to this [bear] problem," says Assemblyman Patrick J. Diegnan (D-South Plainfield). He joined Assemblyman Peter J. Barnes III (D-Edison) and Senator Barbara Buono (D-Metuchen).

Finally among animal advocates' efforts to halt the hunt, tomorrow's the date for a rally at the State House in Trenton. "Reject the slaughter and defend black bears in New Jersey" is the aim for the event, sponsored by Friends of Animals (FoA) and Heart for Animals, two more activist groups.

Connecticut-based FoA has joined forces with Lawyers in Defense of Animals (LIDA), a New Jersey group, to tell the governor that "New Jersey has it all wrong when it comes to bears."

On Friday, Dec. 3, from 1-3 pm outside the governor's office, protesters will demand that Gov. Christie cancel the bear hunt. Their voices will be heard and their banners and posters will be seen by state workers and others in town on a work day.

With questions about the Dec. 3 rally, contact Edita Birnkrant, NY director, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; 212-247-8120 or Dustin Rhodes, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; 202-906-0210.

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