The last time there was an effort to suspend a bear hunt in New Jersey, Jon Corzine was Governor and Lisa Jackson, the director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, was the head of the State’s Department of Environmental Protection. They both opposed the hunt.
Corzine served from 2006 to 2010. It was a bad idea because the bear population had surged and became an even larger problem for folks in the northern counties. Gov. Chris Christie had promised to reinstate the bear hunt when he ran for office. Previously there had been bear hunts in 2003 and 2005. A legal challenge thwarted a hunt in 2007.
As a recent Wall Street Journal article noted, “New Jersey could be considered a bear’s paradise. It has mild winters and an abundance of acorns, berries, hickory nuts and other species favorites.” We might also mention bird feeders and easily accessed garbage cans. Those in bear country tend not to feed the birds and have garbage cans that can survive a WMD.
If you don’t think the sport of hunting is not popular in America, it’s worth noting that of the estimated 7,000 permits issued for this year’s hunt, some ten percent were snapped up by those from out-of-state and the first of some 200 bears killed on Monday, December 5, was taken by Robert Melber of Apache Junction, Arizona. He hadn’t been in the woods of the Delaware Water Gap for more than a half hour before he bagged one.
