New Jersey Fish and Wildlife to vote on reinstating bear hunting season amid 237% increase in encounters

The New Jersey Fish and Wildlife Council will vote Tuesday on a proposal to revive the state’s bear looking season.

The bear looking season might be returning to New Jersey after farmers and residents have complained in regards to the surging black bear inhabitants and the Division of Environmental Safety reporting that encounters with bears have elevated by 237% over 2021 numbers, in response to reporting from Information 12 New Jersey.

These components have prompted Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy to rethink his stance on the season, which he canceled partially beginning in 2018 and fully final yr, following by means of on a promise he made to animal rights activists throughout his 2017 election marketing campaign. 

Murphy was narrowly re-elected to a second time period in 2021.

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“Because the outset of my administration, I’ve promised to floor each tough resolution on the most recent science and proof with a purpose to defend our communities,” Murphy stated in an announcement final week whereas signaling help for reviving the hunt. 

“From the information we’ve analyzed to the tales we’ve heard from households throughout the state, it’s clear that New Jersey’s black bear inhabitants is rising considerably, and nonlethal bear administration methods alone aren’t sufficient to mitigate this pattern.” 

Murphy’s change of coronary heart can be a welcome one for a lot of state residents who’ve complained of elevated encounters with bears which have terrified residents and broken crops and livestock.

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“They actually knock lots of corn down, eat lots of corn they usually’ll take anyplace from 5% to 25% of a area. We have seen some fields which were 70% decimated this yr,” Phillip Broadhecker, a farmer from Hampton Township, informed Information 12. “You may truly go on to Google maps and have a look at Earth views within the fall of fields and see circles and spherical spots in fields, and it is astounding how dangerous it’s.”

Broadhecker stated the injury does not cease at crops, noting that livestock and even folks’s pets have been the targets of the rising inhabitants of bears.

“We have lots of livestock which were killed or injured up right here. Goats, chickens, pigs, small horses, even folks’s canines,” he stated. 

Phil Murphy, the Democratic Occasion nominee for governor of New Jersey, and his household arrive to vote in Middletown, N.J., Nov. 7, 2017. 
(Reuters/Lucas Jackson)

The consequence has been a lack of earnings for farmers.

“You plant that area within the spring, and once you lose 70% of that crop, you are not getting that cash again to pay your payments. It’s a must to pay your fertilizer, your seed man, the gas — there’s lots of expense there,” Broadhecker defined.

New Jersey’s bear hunt has lengthy been a controversial concern within the state and was as soon as banned for 30 years earlier than returning in 2003 below former Gov. Jim McGreevey. It was as soon as once more banned by former Gov. Jon Corzine, solely to return once more below former Gov. Chris Christie in 2010.

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Murphy’s resolution to as soon as once more ban the hunt has proved controversial. Critics say the transfer has led to a skyrocketing inhabitants that the state can not ignore. State officers estimate the inhabitants has now topped 3,000 however might surge to 4,000 within the subsequent two years if left untouched.

Murphy heard these complaints, acknowledging he might should reverse his earlier promise.

“Each New Jerseyan deserves to stay in communities by which their youngsters, households and property are protected against hurt,” Murphy stated final week. “And whereas I dedicated to ending the bear hunt, the information calls for that we act now to forestall tragic bear-human interactions. 

“We should responsibly adapt to the inhabitants with rigorously regulated and strict bear inhabitants administration methods to make sure our communities and households are protected against the rising black bear inhabitants.”

Bear hunters pose with a black bear that they killed earlier within the morning at Wawayanda State Park Dec. 8, 2003, in Vernon, N.J.  
(Spencer Platt/Getty Photos)

However the transfer to revive the New Jersey bear hunt was not nicely acquired by animal rights activists, who declare the hunt does little to assist the state’s surging bear inhabitants.

“The hunt doesn’t scale back the black bear’s fertility fee, nor does it stop incidents with bears,” Angi Metler of the Animal Safety League of New Jersey informed Information 12. “When bears haven’t got entry to unnatural meals sources, they’ll truly begin reproducing and having cubs as much as the age of 11. In New Jersey, they begin having cubs at age 2½.”

Nonetheless, the Fish and Sport Council will transfer ahead with a vote on the proposal, with the council’s Chair Frank Virgilio signaling help for reviving the hunt.

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“As chairman of the Fish and Sport Council, I share Gov. Murphy’s considerations for shielding public security whereas supporting a wholesome black bear inhabitants in New Jersey,” Virgilio stated in an announcement final week. “Moreover, we’ve an obligation to conduct bear looking in New Jersey each ethically and responsibly. The council’s job is to contemplate credible black bear administration in addition to the non-hunting public and their acceptance of our rules.”