When Gov. Corzine took office, he vowed to put an end to bear hunts and he did, at least until the courts sort it out. I don’t hold out for much hope from the New Jersey courts as they have proven time and again to rewrite the laws to suit their personal agendas.
Taking the position that having a hunting season for bears is inhumane, officials of the Department of Environmental Protection, which overseas fish and wildlife, ambushed a big black bear last Saturday night killing it. So much for non-lethal treatment of bears I guess.
Under the direction of the governor, Lisa Jackson, head of the DEP, took the law into her own hands in 2006 and tossed out the window a court approved document which was the New Jersey bear management plan. That plan called for an annual bear hunt to manage numbers. Jackson is anti-hunting, as is Gov. Corzine, so they decided to disregard the laws and take matters into their own hands. They canceled the hunt and ripped up the bear management plan.
Instead of a bear season, the dynamic duo said other non-lethal means need to be used. These include education of the public on how best to reduce bear-human encounters. One of these non-lethal methods is the use of bear-proof garbage cans. See related story for a good laugh.
A 532 pound black bear, thought to be named “Bearzilla” because of his size and familiarity with the neighborhood, had been trying unsuccessfully to break into a home somewhere in the Stillwater area. Officials had tried to capture the bear, that had already been captured and tagged the previous year and relocated, but the bear outsmarted the trappers. It was then decided to kill the bear.
When there’s too many bears and not enough habitat food, it’s difficult to tell a bear to go someplace else and find food. I wonder how the governor will feel when one of those bears successfully breaks into a home and kills someone? Bearzilla tried 10 times to get into this one house.
So much for non-lethal means but then again, some people just don’t get it.
Tom Remington
