Wildlife News
WASHINGTON, DC - The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) today denounced the New Jersey Fish and Game Council for approving a proposal to hold a bear hunt in December.
The vote comes despite a letter sent to the council by New Jersey Department of Environment Commissioner Bradley Campbell recommending against a bear hunt in 2004.
The letter acknowledges that the bear population in New Jersey is lower than original estimates and that New Jersey should focus resources on implementing programs to reduce conflicts with bears instead of focusing attention on a hunt in 2004.
"The Fish and Game Council is dominated by extremist hunting interests. Until the legislature addresses this quota system that places hunters in absolute control of the council, then we will see more reckless and defiant actions by the council," said Wayne Pacelle, a senior vice president at The HSUS. "The hunt should be called off not only because it's inhumane, but also because the bear population is far smaller than originally thought and because New Jersey residents don't want such an ill-considered approach to dealing with the occasional conflicts between bears and people."
The revised estimates put the bear population at 1,490. Educating people about preventing or discouraging bad bear behavior, and aversively conditioning the bears, are the two prongs of an effective bear management strategy.
"New Jersey officials and residents should be focusing their attention on educating citizens about behaving in a way that does not attract bears to their communities," said Pacelle. "There's no way for hunters to identify and target the bears most likely to cause a conflict."
Nina Austenberg, who directs The HSUS Mid-Atlantic regional office in Flanders, N.J., urges the McGreevey administration to fund non-lethal approaches to addressing the bear population.
"The state has a number of options from public education to offering tax credits on bear-proof garbage cans," said Austenberg. "I am pleased to see that the administration is so strongly opposed to a bear hunt this year, and I hope that they follow through on these statements to step in and stop a hunt along with implementing a program to reduce conflicts."
Austenberg added that The HSUS is available to assist with implementation of non-lethal approaches.
"Most New Jersey residents opposed a bear hunt last year and even more came out against the hunt after the bloodbath in December," said Austenberg. "I encourage residents to ask their legislators to pass a moratorium on bear hunting."
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