For Immediate Release
Contact: Jeff Tittel, NJ Sierra Club, 609-558-9100
The 2020 New Jersey Black Bear hunt begins this Monday, October 12-14 for Segment A, Archery Only. Despite the ban on hunting bears on state lands, hunting has been conducted on private land. The New Jersey Sierra Club believes that without an actual bear management plan that deals with protection of habitats, garbage, and educating people in bear country, the hunt is meaningless. The bear hunt has killed too many bears and is no longer sustainable.
“On Monday, Governor Murphy’s 5th and 6th bear hunt will begin. This is unbearable. The Governor made a commitment to stop the bear hunt, but he has not done so. He has the authority to do it as other Governors have. Enough is enough. This hunt needs to be stopped because it is unneeded and unnecessary. Governor Murphy can’t have it both ways,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “Governor Murphy campaigned to end the hunt, but instead he only closed state lands. We filed a petition asking the state to stop the hunt or for Murphy to sign an executive order. However, he hasn’t accepted the petition or signed an EO. Instead he put out more spin by changing the bear hunt from the Game Code that lacks transparency on whether or not next year’s hunt will happen or not.”
In the first week of October, The NJ Division of Fish and Game Council proposed amendments to Game Code, N.J.A.C 7:25-5. The proposed 2020-21 Game Code, N.J.A.C. 7:25-5, provides when, under what circumstances, in what location, by what means, and what amounts and numbers, game-birds, game animals and fur-bearing animals may be pursued, taken, killed or had in possession.
“Instead of living up to his word to end the hunt, Governor Murphy is playing games with the Division of Fish and Games. They are putting out spin and PR by separating the bear hunt from the Game Code. This will not end the bear hunt this year or next year. Separating the Comprehensive Black Bear Management Policy from the Game Council looks like the administration is doing something when they are actually letting the hunt go forward. They have the ability to stop the hunt or accept our petition but instead of doing so, they are putting out more spin and trying to avoid responsibility,” said Tittel.
In August, a coalition of twelve organizations including the NJ Sierra Club, the Humane Society of the United States and The Animal Legal Defense Fund filed a petition with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection under the Administrative Procedures Act to repeal rules permitting bear hunting and the Department’s Comprehensive Bear Management Policy. The coalition also sent a letter to Governor Murphy asking him to issue an Executive Order to stop the bear hunt. By stopping the hunt, it would allow the state to come up with a better management plan that actually manages bears, not just hunting them.
“We petitioned the DEP Commissioner for a rule change that would stop the bear hunt. The Murphy administration said we should not petition the DEP Commissioner even though that is what the law says. The administration said to go to Fish & Game, however the Safari case clearly states that the DEP Commissioner has responsibility over all rules and regulations like the bear hunt. It’s their way of rejecting our petition to stop the hunt and allow a private one to go forward,” said Tittel. “Governor Murphy could sign an Executive Order to stop the hunt or stop killing cubs and baiting bears, but he won’t.”
DEP released new statistics showing that bear sightings are up this year compared to last year. There have been 147 bear sightings during the first half of 2020 compared to 76 sightings during the first half of 2019. Damage & Nuisance instances are up from 234 in 2019 to 327 in 2020.
“There have been more bear sightings this year, which is no surprise. This year, people have been staying at home during the quarantine, which is leading to more sightings. More importantly, people are cooking and eating at home much more instead of going to the mall to eat, eating at the office, or going out to dinner. Cooking and eating at home more often means more garbage. The state has refused so far to really deal with the issue of garbage. Bears see garbage as a food source. An abundant supply of trash means that the bear population will increase and bears will become more aggressive as they learn that houses are good places to find food,” said Tittel.
He has the authority to block the hunt just like Whitman, McGreevey, and Corzine did, yet he is still not doing anything to stop it. There’s even a 2005 court case on it.
“In order to properly deal with bears in New Jersey, we need to transition from hunting to a real bear management plan. The plan needs to include strong education and use warning signs in the region, educational materials at trailheads, enforce not feeding the bears, and garbage management. This is especially important during the pandemic when people are staying at home and creating more garbage than they normally would. New Jersey needs to start dealing with the garbage issue now. Dealing with garbage and food is how we will keep the bear populations down and lower the risk of bear-human interactions. These efforts will benefit both the people and the bears,” said Tittel.
The state needs to transition from hunting to a real management plan, one that includes strong education and uses warning signs in the region, education materials at trail heads, enforcing not feeding bears, and garbage management.
“The Murphy Administration committed to stopping the bear hunt and instead having a real management plan and we will hold them to that commitment. Without a real management plan, bears will change from a nuisance bear to an aggressive bear and will be put down. This will be an excuse to justify the hunt, even if the hunt takes place in areas where there aren’t nuisance bears. The black bear is a symbol that we still have wild places left in the state and that we haven’t completely given over to sprawl,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.