Hunters Sue on State Land Bear Ban: Unbearable Confusion

Some hunting groups, led by the New Jersey Outdoor Alliance, have filed a motion challenging Murphy’s order that closes state lands for bear hunting. The October 2018 bear hunt lasted for six days and resulted in 140 confirmed bears killed. When running for Governor, Murphy promised to put a moratorium on the bear hunt until a thorough bear management plan could be put in place. Instead, he only closed about half of New Jersey to hunting, allowing another 40% of land where just as many bears can be killed as last year. The brief for New Jersey Outdoor Alliance, Safari Club International, Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation v. Catherine McCabe and NJDEP is attached.

“We believe that Governor Murphy has the authority and the right to stop the bear hunt on state lands and throughout all of New Jersey. We believe that he acted within his powers when he blocked the hunt on state-owned lands and supported his effort to do so. However, we believe he should extend the moratorium to stopping the bear hunt on all lands. We are continuing to urge the DEP to stop the hunt for the rest of the year.,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “We need a thorough bear management plan can be created that adequately tracks the bear population as well as creates education and non-lethal plan to manage it. Until then, the Governor must fulfill his campaign promise to stop the bear hunt altogether.”

The Murphy Administration said they couldn’t have a full hunting ban, despite previous commitments to do so, because they were afraid of being sued. That’s why they decided to go forward with only a ban on state lands. Now we see that they’re being sued by hunting groups anyway. 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.

“We believe that they overestimated the number of bears in the population, allowing 30% of tagged bears to be killed each year. This year it’s even more confusing because the tagged bears could be on public land or DEP managed land. They may have tagged more bears from public land, changing the ratios and percentages of tagged bears. This skews the numbers and the system. More importantly, we believe the state’s bear populations are too low to continue hunting sustainably,” said Jeff Tittel. “If Murphy has to fight to defend not allowing hunters on half the land, why not just fight to defend not allowing them on any land?”

Murphy’s Executive Order bans bear hunting on all state lands, about 700,000 acres. However, this leaves just as much land in county parklands, private lands, water company lands, non-profit lands, and municipal lands where bears can still be hunted on. While running for Governor, Murphy promised to put a moratorium on the bear hunt that was increased under Governor Christie. Three hunting groups, The New Jersey Outdoor Alliance (NJOA), Safari Club International and Sportsmen’s Alliance, have announced their intent to sue the Administration.

“Murphy has the authority to stop the bear hunt in December. 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. There’s a 2005 court case that supported the Governor’s decision. The Murphy Administration may have been afraid of being sued and that’s why they decided to go forward with only a ban on state lands. Now we see that they’re being sued by hunting groups anyway. Why not follow through with the original promise of a full ban on hunting in New Jersey?” said Jeff Tittel. “Current hunt parameters are unsustainable, unethical, and not backed by sound science. We need to stop this hunt and focus on a real bear management plan for New Jersey!”

According to a report by the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife Bear Activity Report, the number of bears in New Jersey from 2009 to 2018 have dropped by 87 percent. Sightings dropped by 83%, and Damage and Nuisance reports dropped by 86% since 2009. Encounters with aggressive bears tied the lowest total since 2010 with two in 2017. This year, however, four were reported through June 20. Bear hunting in the northwest corner of the state is still on track to continue in 2018. 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 was initiated initially to get rid of aggressive and nuisance bears and the numbers show that they have dropped by 86%. There’s no reason to be killing the same number of bears this year. The main purpose of the hunt is gone and the number of bears has been decimated from the bear hunts. Since 2010 0ver 4,000 bears have been killed from the hunt, car accidents, and put down because they were aggressive bears. We believe the number of bears in New Jersey is much lower than what the Division of Fish and Wildlife say. The numbers of bears have dropped because there are so fewer bears,” said Jeff Tittel.

New Jersey used to spend more than $2 million a year on bear management education, that money has been reduced by 90%. Ten years ago, New Jersey had bear wardens whose jobs were to manage bears and educate the public. That program has been eliminated. Now only Conservation Officers do that work and there are 40% less of them then there was ten years ago. They not only have to deal with bears, but other species, poachers, and everything else.

“In order to successfully address bear management, we must deal with garbage, educate the public about living bear country, and protect their habitat. There needs to be warning signs in bear country with post at all trail heads with Do’s and Don’ts in bear country. We also need to teach people how to bear-proof their property, including the importance of having no garbage at night and bear proof containers. These will do a lot more in managing the bear population than having an unnecessary hunt. Protecting our habitat is another important step towards managing our bear population,” said Jeff Tittel. “Each year, New Jersey loses thousands of acres of land in bear country. The more we build houses in the middle of the woods where bears live, the more conflict we will see between bears and humans.”

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. There needs to be warning signs in bear country with post at all trail heads with Do’s and Don’ts in bear country. We also need to teach people how to bear-proof their property, including the importance of having no garbage at night and bear proof containers. These will do a lot more in managing the bear population than having an unnecessary hunt.

“Murphy is following the Christie Administration’s failed process of hunting bears without a real bear management plan in place. We aren’t adequately protecting the bear population or the ecosystems of New Jersey with this system. The bear hunt was initiated initially to get rid of aggressive and nuisance bears and the numbers show that they have dropped by 86%. There’s no reason to be killing the same number of bears this year,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “We need the Murphy Administration to put the science back into bear management. We need to use non-lethal techniques and education, as well as habitat preservation, to reduce human-bear interactions. A hunt based on inadequate tagging system and incorrect science could end up destroying our bear population altogether.”