action

Letters to the editor—

One of the most powerful ways

to give a voice to our black bears

Talking points when you write:

•The only proven and effective way to manage black bears is through proper garbage storage—and this is also the LAW. (NJSA 23:2A14. The Black Bear Feeding Ban makes it illegal to feed bears, intentionally or inadvertently through improper garbage storage.)
•The pro-hunting NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife has not been enforcing the black bear feeding ban, enacted in 2002. They have sabotaged non-lethal bear management through their deliberate negligence, and have laid the groundwork for ongoing hunts.
•Hunting does not address nuisance concerns.
(States with bear hunts experience rising complaints. A report by Dr. Edward Tavss, a Rutgers scientist, proves this. For a synopsis of his study in his own words, click here. For his complete study, click here.)
•Public education, garbage control and aversive conditioning are the best means to address concerns about bears.
•Hunting will never teach people how to live responsibly in bear country. Only education can do that.
•According to a 2010 statewide survey conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, Inc. for the Humane Society of the United States, 74 percent of registered voters prefer that the state prioritize non-lethal methods of solving conflicts between humans and bears.
•With roughly 2.6 million (2010 Census) people living in bear country, a few hundred complaints is very low, especially when they are mostly related to garbage issues. Most people are living among bears in harmony.
•Bear hunts are recreational trophy hunts being sold as public safety. The real issues affecting New Jersey are economy, unemployment, property tax, health care, education, corruption, homeland security, and the environment.
•The Division of Fish and Wildlife should not be moving bears all over the state, especially in areas where bears do not usually frequent. They do this to induce fear and get support for a bear hunt.
•Hunters bait bears, bringing them into residential neighborhoods, which raise the complaints. Baiting any animal in bear country is a bad idea.
•Ninety-nine percent of New Jersey residents do not hunt and less than 0.1% hunt black bears.