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BY PAT SUMMERS
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
"It's really skewed on our side, and yet he's turning a deaf ear." Angi Metler, executive director of the state-wide Animal Protection League of NJ recently ticked off arguments against the six-day bear hunt now scheduled to begin Dec 6. So far, they haven't moved Governor Christie to halt the hunt.
On that Monday, hunters will set out with their muzzle loaders and shotguns to kill New Jersey black bears. Children as young as 10 could be among them.
All it takes to legally kill a bear is a hunting license that goes for under $30 and an additional $2 bear permit, as well as attendance at a required seminar. And kids 10-16 actually hunt at taxpayers' expense, Metler points out; they're reimbursed for whatever they pay up front.
"They're all excited" on hunter web sites, she says — already discussing the relatives merits of taxidermists; whether to mount heads or whole bodies; and what about bear rugs. "They even mount cubs and yearlings."
If it comes off as scheduled, next month's hunt will be the first since 2005. During that season, 298 bears were killed, 52% of whom were cubs and yearlings (those between 1-2).
Metler spoke soon after the second of three rallies against the bear hunt; the third and last will be this Saturday from 12-2 pm in Paramus. (for details:
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)
She referred to Christie's announced intention of eliminating waste in government, while at the same time not clamping down on Fish and Wildlife's "corrupt bear hunt." First, the division has wasted millions in appropriations by not enforcing the black bear-feeding ban, she says. Whether intentionally or through improperly stored garbage, it is illegal to feed bears in New Jersey (NJSA 23:2A-14).
And, since 1999 in violation of its statutory mandate (NJSA 23:2-2), DFW has not provided the legislature with an annual report — a publicly available document that could help assure fiscal responsibility and accountability.
As one example of how DFW has "cooked the books," Metler cites the division's figures on bear complaints. Dr. Edward Tavss, of Rutgers University, has demonstrated that DFW "breached reputable scientific protocol" by inflating that total through duplication of reports. In fact, division data revealed the complaints substantially decreased.
Further, Tavss discovered changes in collection protocol between the early and later years of complaint collection, as well as no standardization in how bear behaviors were logged.
In 2005, Tavss' study had demonstrated that "in every site studied, hunting failed to decrease complaints, while nonlethal methods at those same sites worked to reduce complaints." The DFW has no plan to humanely manage black bears.
Additional anti-hunt facts and numbers — which so far have had no effect on stopping the hunt — include:
- Hunters make up 0.6% of New Jersey's population.
- In a clear-cut case of conflict of interest, hunting, fishing and trapping license fees pay employee salaries in NJ's Division of Fish and Wildlife — the unit that successfully recommended the bear hunt to DEP Commissioner Robert Martin. (He, in turn, approved the plan even before the public comment period, Metler says.)
- Taxpayer money that goes to buildings, electricity, parks and forests actually subsidizes the hunt. Further, through the Green Acres program, the public buys land that DFW uses for hunting.
- During the public comment period on the Black Bear Management Policy (which includes the hunt recommendation), 70% of the comments received were against a hunt.
According to a 2006 US Fish and Wildlife Services survey, "wildlife watchers" outspend hunters 5-1 in New Jersey. "We outspend and certainly outnumber them," Metler says, "so why are we putting so much of the state's resources into hunting?"
Summing up, she and her organization both say, "This hunt is strictly recreational; it's a trophy hunt. It's cruel, it's a waste of taxpayer dollars and the public doesn't want it."
Metler urges those against the bear hunt to call on Governor Christie (phone: 609-292-6000; fax: 609-292-3454) to extend the clean-up of state government to the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) — and call off the bear hunt.
Further information about NJ's black bears and the bear hunt is available from www.aplnj.org and www.SaveNJbears.com.
Freelance writer Pat Summers also blogs at www.AnimalBeat.blogspot.com.
WOODBRIDGE — Police shot and killed a 300-pound black bear that charged an officer Sunday in a Woodbridge park, police said today.
Woodbridge and Clark police officers both responded to calls from residents about a black bear first sighted wandering around Willow Way at 8 a.m. Sunday, Clark Police Chief Denis Connell said.
Officers with rifles tracked the bear to Inman Park on the corner of Inman Avenue and Amherst Avenue in Woodbridge.
When the roaming bear began charging towards a Woodbridge police officer, the two Clark officers opened fire and killed the bear, according to Connell.
"In most cases if (bears) go back to the woods, we leave them be," said Connell. "In this case, they posed a risk to human life so we had to take them out."
In April 2009 a report was done stating that 61% of NJ residents want Open Space and Green Acres funding to go to (a) purchasing open space (b) protecting wildlife and (c) protecting wildlife habitat. This is not happening, so perhaps we should sue for misappropriation of funds.