Bear Hunt Set To Go Ahead in New Jersey
by Sherry Morse
For the first time since 1970, New Jersey’s Fish and Game Council has voted 8-1 to allow a legal bear hunt in the state to help control the growing bear population.
New Jersey plans on issuing up to ten thousand permits to hunters who successfully complete a seminar on how to safely target bears before the six day hunt in December.
The hunt will be limited to Sussex, Warren, Morris and Passaic counties and each hunter will be limited to one bear. Hunters may only target bears north of Route 78 and west of Route 287.
Animal rights activists believe that more public education will solve the bear problem in the garden state, but the Council disagreed, citing the increasing bear population and increase in bear-human encounters. Governor James McGreevy said that he will not stop the hunt, although he was against the idea when he ran for office two years ago.
Residents of the area where the hunt is to be held are divided on the idea of a hunt, with one woman whose son was swiped by a bear upset that the hunt will go on, while another area resident who was chased by a bear believes that something must be done to control the bear population. It is estimated that there are between thirteen hundred and two thousand bears in the garden state.
© 2003 Animal News Center, Inc.
For the first time since 1970, New Jersey’s Fish and Game Council has voted 8-1 to allow a legal bear hunt in the state to help control the growing bear population.
New Jersey plans on issuing up to ten thousand permits to hunters who successfully complete a seminar on how to safely target bears before the six day hunt in December.
The hunt will be limited to Sussex, Warren, Morris and Passaic counties and each hunter will be limited to one bear. Hunters may only target bears north of Route 78 and west of Route 287.
Animal rights activists believe that more public education will solve the bear problem in the garden state, but the Council disagreed, citing the increasing bear population and increase in bear-human encounters. Governor James McGreevy said that he will not stop the hunt, although he was against the idea when he ran for office two years ago.
Residents of the area where the hunt is to be held are divided on the idea of a hunt, with one woman whose son was swiped by a bear upset that the hunt will go on, while another area resident who was chased by a bear believes that something must be done to control the bear population. It is estimated that there are between thirteen hundred and two thousand bears in the garden state.
© 2003 Animal News Center, Inc.
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