AR-News: (NJ) Bear Hunt May Go Into Hibernation

Mon Mar 1 22:03:55 EST 2004

Bear hunt may go into hibernation 

Saturday, February 28, 2004

By TRACEY L. REGAN 
Staff Writer 

TRENTON - Concerned about political fallout from a
second black bear
hunt, the McGreevey administration is quietly urging
wildlife officials
to cancel this year's hunt, several people close to
the issue said. 

The hunt is viewed by the administration as a negative
for Gov. James E.
McGreevey at a time when he is eagerly courting
support for an ambitious
land preservation plan in the New Jersey Highlands,
where the state's
bear population is heavily concentrated, sources said.

The Highlands plan, which seeks to curtail development
in a vast,
forested region in the state's northwestern counties,
is seen as an
important legacy for McGreevey, while the six-day hunt
last December
drew mostly negative feedback. Much of the criticism
leveled at the
administration came from people who live in the
region. 

McGreevey acknowledged recently that he has received
more letters
protesting the hunt - the state's first in 33 years -
than any other
public policy issue, including property taxes. More
than 14,500 people
wrote to the governor urging him to cancel the hunt,
while a much
smaller number, about 2,800 writers, said they favored
it, a spokeswoman
said. 

Bradley Campbell, the state commissioner of
environmental protection,
made it known recently that the administration would
prefer to pass on a
hunt this year, several people involved with the issue
said. 

Campbell did not deny that he has spoken with wildlife
officials about
the hunt. He acknowledged telling members of the Fish
and Game Council,
the board that sets the state's game code, "that they
shouldn't assume
that because there was (a bear hunt) last year, that
there should be
another." 

"This is an issue that should be looked at from year
to year," he said,
describing himself as a strong proponent of the hunt
last year. 

He added, however, "There is a high bar in New Jersey
in terms of public
acceptance." 

Members of the council, who will propose the year's
game code at their
March 9 meeting, said they will weigh such factors as
bear population
estimates, complaints about break-ins and aggressive
behavior on the
part of bears, as well as the number of car accidents
caused by the
animals, in making their decision. 

"When all of the data comes out, that will make our
job easy, because
that will decide it," said Scott Ellis, the council's
chairman. "We will
decide based on scientific investigation, whether or
not it should be
supported." 

"We've been talking about all of these issues for the
last three or four
months," said George Howard, a long-serving member of
the council. 

Campbell said he would work with the council to "come
to what we think
the right choice is," but said the administration
would "consider what
options were available" if their positions are far
apart. 

He said he will spend the weekend reviewing data on
the bear population,
but refused to share it. 

Campbell asserted last fall that he had the authority
to cancel the hunt
if he felt that too many bears were killed. About 330
bears were taken
over the six-day season, or about 10 percent of a
state population that
some wildlife officials said was as large as 3,200
bears. Population
estimates are hotly debated. 

Jack Schrier, a Highlands native and the lone member
of the council to
vote against the hunt last year, said people in the
region were unhappy
about the hunt and unsure about what it had
accomplished. 

"I think opposition to a bear hunt will be louder this
year," said
Schrier, who is also the director of the Morris County
freeholders. "I
think if there is an effort by the administration to
cancel this year's
hunt, it would be widely supported. It would go a long
way for McGreevey
to fix the dent in his reputation." 

Schrier noted that tens of thousands of New Jerseyans,
many from the
Highlands region, had signed petitions last year
opposing the hunt. And
he said the state should reconsider its hunting
policies, given the
steady decline in the number of hunters here, whom he
described as an
ever-smaller fraction of the state's population. 

"I think this suggests that the Fish and Wildlife
Division and the Fish
and Game Council have to find other means of wildlife
management than
killing animals," he said. 

Three and a half years ago, then Gov. Christie Whitman
supported a bear
hunt but abruptly changed her mind, citing widespread
opposition from
residents and municipal governments in regions coping
with the heaviest
concentrations of bears. She persuaded the game
council, which had
approved the hunt, to call it off. 

Howard, a member of the council then, let it be known
what he thought of
her decision. 

"It might be good politics, but it's poor wildlife
management," he said
after the hunt was canceled. 

The McGreevey administration also has had to balance
concerns over
safety - promulgated by the state's own wildlife
officials - with the
huge reservoir of sympathy for what some residents
view as cuddly
outdoor pets and others see as a rare wild creature in
the nation's most
densely developed state. 

Critics of the hunt assert that public opinion shifted
in their favor as
soon as "pictures of dead cubs showed up on television
and in
newspapers," as Jeffrey Tittel, director of the New
Jersey Sierra Club,
put it. 

"On a little political level, sympathy has shifted to
the bear," Tittel
said. "And for the general public, even though it may
not be a major
issue, it's a negative." 

Contact Tracey L. Regan at (609) 777-4465 or
tregan at njtimes.com 

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