NJSC Joins Bear Hunt Protest: Murphy Must Keep His Promise

Newton, NJ– The New Jersey Sierra Club is joining with the Animal Protection League of New Jersey, The Humane Society, The League of Humane Voters of New Jersey, and other groups and citizens to protest the bear hunt. We are gathered at the Whittingham weigh station in the Whittingham Wildlife Management Area to draw attention to Governor Murphy’s broken promise to stop the bear hunt. The press conference is being held at 10 am while a protest will follow into the afternoon.

“Governor Murphy promised to stop the bear hunt and implement a thorough bear management plan and we’re gathering today because he broke that promise! Unless we break away from the Christie Administration’s political science-based bear management, we won’t be adequately protecting the bear population or the ecosystems of New Jersey. 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,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “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!”

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.

“For some unexplained reason, they said they couldn’t have a full hunting ban, despite three other Governors being able to do so. Governors Whitman, McGreevey, and Corzine, were all able to stop the Fish and Game Council from going forward with a bear 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. “Even with restrictions on state lands, just as many bears are going to be killed this year since the DEP has issued the same number of bear permits as last year. The NJDEP should be more worried about doing what’s best for the bear population and using science rather than politics”

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.

“We must deal with garbage, educate the public about living bear country, and protect their habitat if we’re going to have stable bear populations 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.”

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 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.

” We will continue to push for a full moratorium on black bear hunting in New Jersey until a scientific and thorough bear management plan is in place. We need the Murphy Administration to follow Governors to stop all bear hunting in New Jersey until a thorough bear management plan is put in place. Otherwise, we’ll see the population continue to drop until we have no bears left,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “If we let Fish and Game control the hunt, it could take five years to implement. We’re asking Murphy, will you stop the hunt in December or next year? Are yoru hands tied every year? If we wait too long, there might be no more bears left. This year is the Murphy Hunt and these dead bears are on account of the Murphy Administration.”