[Nj_federation_alert] NJ Bear Policy - A "Free-for-All"

[ap.maurosr at verizon.net]

It is a testimony to the folly of politics, and the ignorance of politicians, to allow a political agenda to be the fuel for an engine designed to run on conservation. 

New Jersey has deemed that the well-being of its citizens is secondary to that of certain wildlife. The state policy for managing bears is nothing more than a free-for-all.

Ant 
Unity to be real must stand the severest strain without breaking. ~Mahatma Gandhi
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Bear that broke into Vernon home target of search
by Jim Lockwood/The Star-Ledger  Monday April 21, 2008, 5:04 PM
State wildlife officials are trying to trap a large bear that broke into a house in Vernon and ran away when police shot at it, authorities said. 

The incident occurred in the Lake Wanda section of Highland Lakes at 8:10 p.m. Sunday, when a resident who was home alone watching television in his bedroom heard "strange noises" coming from his kitchen, police said today. A large bruin had broken through the front door of the man's home on Chestnut Street and was "tearing at his kitchen garbage," police said. 

"The homeowner climbed out of his bedroom window and phoned Vernon police from a neighbor's home," township police Lt. Daniel Zill said in a statement. 

A police officer arrived to find the bear eating a bag of garbage outside the home. Following state procedures for killing nuisance bears, the officer used a shotgun to shoot the bear, which then ran off into woods behind the home, police said. 

Officials believe the shot missed and the bear was not killed or wounded, said Larry Herrighty, assistant director of the state Division of Fish & Wildlife. 

The incident and ensuing search for the bear made for commotion in the Lake Wanda neighborhood, which has become a bruin hotbed. Warmer weather has made bears more active here, and residents also have long been at odds over the state's methods of dealing with problem bears. 

Last week, a woman who is a strident anti-bear-hunting activist was issued a disorderly-persons summons for creating a public nuisance by allegedly feeding bears. As a result, the state Division of Fish & Wildlife already had traps set up to try to capture bears, and to condition them into avoiding people and homes, Herrighty said. 

Three bears have been nabbed, including two on Friday and another one today, though it was not the offender bear, he said. All three were subjected to aversive conditioning before being released back into the woods, Herrighty said.





Anthony P. Mauro, Sr.
Chairman, New Jersey Outdoor Alliance: 
"The  voice of the conservationist." 
www.njoutdooralliance.org