Mortally Wounded, Hunted Bear Cub Staggers Onto NJ Highway

by ANC Staff and 'HumaneLines'

New Jersey's first bear hunt in 33 years started this week, and the kill may reach 500 before its scheduled end on Saturday. Many bears were killed without any witnesses, but there was one victim whose hapless circumstance told volumes of the cruelty of this hunt.

The bear cub, shot and mortally wounded by a hunter, managed to stagger out of the woods and onto a busy highway roadside Tuesday morning.

Many commuters, stuck in traffic, got a front-row view of the horror of this hunt as they watched the cub collapse and die before their eyes.

When police arrived, they found not only the dead bear cub, but several cars pulled over, with people crying and visibly shaken by what they had witnessed.

This hunt has come on the watch of Governor Jim McGreevey, who earlier this year gave a written pledge to Humane USA (a political action committee working on animal protection issues) that, if elected, he would support a five-year moratorium on bear hunting.

Governor McGreevey's decision to renege on his explicit and unambiguous pledge has produced a grisly body count that humane-minded New Jersey residents will long remember.

Though the hunt is in progress, the Governor and his DEP Commissioner, Bradley Campbell, can put a stop to it at any point and spare the bears that have thus far survived the onslaught of 6,000 hunters.

Concerned individuals can call both the Governor and the Commissioner and let them know that Americans from coast to coast are disgusted and want this hunt canceled now.

Gov. Jim McGreevey can be contacted by phone at 609-292-6000 or by fax at 609-292-3454. DEP Commissioner Bradley Campbell can be contacted by phone at 609-292-288, or by fax at 609-292-7695.

© 2003 Animal News Center, Inc.