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In order to control the bear population better, New Jersey is adding another hunting season.
While New Jersey is expanding the bear hunting season this year, bear hunting continues to be an issue in New Jersey. This decision doesn’t seem to affect the animal rights activists, who continue their fight against the state’s hunting policy.
The black bears are the largest mammals in the New Jersey state. They are vital to the ecosystem and are considered part of the state’s natural heritage. Since 1980, the black bear population has been increasing and expanding in more areas of the state. At the moment, bears live in all 21 counties of New Jersey.
in 2017, the bear hunting seasons will take place six days in October and the usual amount of time in December. The six new added days will contain three days for hunting with guns, bows and arrows and three days for bow hunting only. In the past, the hunters were allowed to kill one bear, but this year they will be able to kill two bears, but in different hunting seasons.
The new hunting policy comes as the bear population in New Jersey is becoming hard to control. Especially in the North of New Jersey, which is called the bear country, a lot more humans encountered bears, raising alarms for the wildlife official.
The activists backfired and said that the new policy was unnecessary and extremely cruel. They are also concerned for the October hunting season and the bow hunting method, fearing that this method will leave bears wounded, and it won’t kill them fast, like a gun would be able to do. According to Jeff Tittel, it is almost impossible to kill a 400 pound bear with an arrow and a bow.
Bear hunting was banned in New Jersey for more than 30 years and 2003 marked the first hunting after the ban was taken. The next hunt happened in 2005, and in 2010 the state made the annual hunt official.
Other methods of controlling the bear population were offered by the critics. A law that should ban feeding the bears and a better management of the garbage were suggested. Bears are usually attracted by people’s garbage, so one of the most common issues of the New Jersey residents are bears found in their garbage. Measures to stop the bears from reproducing and aversion therapy were two of the suggestions the activists gave. The aversion therapy would make the bears fear the humans and stay away from them.
As New Jersey is expanding the bear hunting season, people continue to have different views on the matter. Some say that this is inhuman, but others say that is the only way of protecting themselves and their families.
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