newjerseynewsroom.com

BY PAT SUMMERS

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

COMMENTARY

Email and phone messages are flying around the state among animal activists. New Jersey's Senate and Environment and Energy Committee will vote Thursday on S1181 — cutting from 450 to 150 feet the bow-hunting safety zone, giving bow hunters access to more land, closer to homes.

Activists are urging one another to urge committee members to vote NO on S1181 before Thursday's action on this critical issue.

Angi Metler, Executive Director of the Animal Protection League of New Jersey, says "The hunters' point of view is everywhere. We're having a hard time getting ours out. We sent out releases about this legislation to every newspaper in the state. No one was interested. Amazing."

From the activists' side, key arguments against S1181 go like this:

• * The weapon's range exceeds the proposed safety distance.
• * Among the weapons being used are archaic, dangerous cross bows, approved by the New Jersey Fish and Game Council before the 2009-10 deer-hunting season. (Cross bows in our backyards?!)
• * An arrow can travel an average of 184 mph, or 270 feet per second.
• * Bow hunting is exceptionally cruel, inflicting maximum tissue, tendon, muscle and nerve damage. For instance, broadhead arrows are constructed of two to four sharp, razor-blade tips. Their purpose is to induce bleeding by inflicting gaping wounds. Targeted animals die of hemorrhage.
• * S1181 exposes New Jersey's families and companion animals to gratuitous danger for strictly recreational purposes.

New Jersey residents should be asking: what are these hunters after, and why. The answers: first, deer and any other animal that can be hit with an arrow, and second, the hunters' own recreation. If this were about cutting overpopulation, which deer hunters sometimes claims as their motive, they wouldn't be bow-hunting.

New Jersey residents should be saying loud and clear: S1181 — not in MY backyard!

Here are the legislators those against S1181 are asked to contact:

Senate Environment Committee Members

Senator Bob Smith, Chairman, Senate Environment and Energy Committee

(Middlesex and Somerset Counties) — Franklin (Somerset), Highland Park, Milltown, New Brunswick, North Brunswick, Piscataway

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Phone: 732-752-0770

Fax: 732-752-1590

Senator Bob Gordon

(Bergen County) — Cliffside Park, Edgewater, Elmwood Park, Fair Lawn, Fort Lee, Hasbrouck Heights, Little Ferry, Lodi, Paramus, Ridgefield, Saddle Brook, South Hackensack, Teterboro

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Phone: 201-703-9779

Fax: 201-703-8127

Senator Christopher Bateman

(Morris and Somerset Counties) Bedminster, Bernards, Bernardsville, Bound Brook, Branchburg, Bridgewater, Far Hills, Hillsborough, Manville, Mendham Borough, Millstone (Somerset), Montgomery, Peapack-Gladstone, Raritan (Somerset), Rocky Hill, Somerville, South Bound Brook

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Phone: 908-526-3600

Fax: 908-707-4578

Senator Jim Whelan

(Atlantic County) — Absecon, Atlantic City, Brigantine, Corbin, Egg Harbor City, Egg Harbor Township, Estell Manor, Galloway, Hamilton (Atlantic), Linwood, Longport, Margate City, Mullica, Northfield, Pleasantville, Port Republic, Ventnor City, Weymouth

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Phone: 609-383-1388

Fax: 609-383-1497

Senator Jennifer Beck

(Mercer and Monmouth Counties) — Colts Neck, East Windsor, Englishtown, Fair Haven, Freehold, Freehold Township, Hightstown, Little Silver, Manalapan, Marlboro, Millstone (Monmouth), Oceanport, Red Bank, Shrewsbury, Shrewsbury Township, Tinton Falls

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Phone: 732-933-1591

Fax: 732-933-1598

Freelance writer Pat Summers also blogs at AnimalBeat.blogspot.com.