Gov. Murphy’s 4^th Hunt Begins- Unbearable 

Segment B of the bear hunt is scheduled to start on December 9^th, 2019.  The 2019 Segment A, Archery & Muzzleloader part of the hunt harvested 265 bears. Segment B will be Firearms only and will start on the 9^th till the 14ths. If extended, Segment B will continue from December 18-21.

“Governor Murphy’s 4^th bear hunt starts on Monday. This clearly shows that he has broken his commitment to ending the bear hunt. He is not only breaking his commitment, but we are now having more hunts. Murphy has the authority to stop the bear hunt. We know this because three other Governors, Whitman, McGreevey, and Corzine, were all able to stop the Fish and Game Council from going forward with the hunt,”said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “An estimated 265 bears have already been killed in this year’s private hunt. There have been 4,052 bears that have been killed since the 2010 hunt. Enough is enough already. Stop the hunt, stop the games.”

According to the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Bear Activity Report, bear sightings and nuisance numbers have dropped in 2019 compared to 2018. There was a 12.5% drop in Damage & Nuisance cases. From January 1 through September 21st of 2019 there were 139 sightings and 103 nuisance cases. In 2018, there were 180 sightings and 703 damage and nuisance cases. These numbers are much lower compared to reports from 2010 where there were 970 sightings and 2,065 damage and nuisance cases, where 742 were nuisance cases.

 “Governor Murphy is hypocritical if he said he opposed the hunt but is not doing anything to stop it. The bear hunt was initiated to get rid of aggressive and nuisance bears and the numbers show that they have dropped by about 80% times since 2010. It is unbearable that Murphy has the authority to stop the hunt but decided not to. If Murphy is so concerned about the bears, then why isn’t he putting together a non-lethal bear management plan instead of letting another hunt go forward. The purpose of the hunt is gone and therefore the hunt should be ended. Instead of a bear hunt, we need 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. These will do a lot more in managing the bear population than having an unnecessary hunt,” said Tittel.

New Jersey needs to transition from hunting to a real 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.

“Governor Murphy needs to end the bear hunt now. Without a real management plan, bears will change from a nuisance bear to an aggressive bear and will be put down. 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. “The Murphy Administration committed to stopping the bear hunt and instead having a real management plan and we will hold them to that commitment. Governor Murphy must stop the bear hunt now!”