In a stunning reversal, Governor Phil Murphy (D-NJ) reinstated the black bear hunt after banning it several years ago.
Due to a 237% increase in bear-related incidents, Murphy—who aggressively campaigned against black bear hunting in 2017—conceded bear management is necessary to address this growing problem.
The New Jersey Fish and Game Commission unanimously voted to reinstate the season, citing this spike in human-bear conflicts. This action will amend the current Game Code and adopt a new Comprehensive Black Bear Management Plan (CBBMP) to reduce human-bear conflicts.
“The facts on the ground have shown that we cannot rely on nonlethal methods alone to protect New Jersey residents from a growing black bear population,” Governor Murphy said in an official statement. “Today’s actions will facilitate the reinstatement of a regulated black bear hunt this year to help limit dangerous interactions between people and bears to protect public safety.”
The highly-regulated hunt will commence on December 5th and end on December 10th, 2022. A total of 11,000 black bear permits “will be available to properly licensed hunters and farmer hunters” per NJ’s wildlife agency.
Governor Murphy’s most ardent backers – the Sierra Club and Humane Society– blasted him for reinstating what they call the “black bear trophy hunt.”
Humane Society downplayed the rise of human-bear conflicts, suggesting New Jerseyans aren’t in “imminent peril” from aggressive bears: “Yet, the public is not in “imminent peril” from black bears and the numbers cited by the DFW to suggest otherwise are misleading. Moreover, the logic behind an emergency opening is flawed, because the science is clear that trophy hunting does not reduce bear conflicts, and in fact, may exacerbate human-bear conflicts.”
Sierra Club’s New Jersey chapter previously endorsed Governor Murphy and lobbied him to ban bear hunting in 2018. Now they’ve turned against him for following the science.
“Governor Murphy is failing to keep his commitment to stopping the bear hunt,” said Anjuli Ramos-Busot, New Jersey Director of the Sierra Club, in a press release. “The justification for reversing the 2018 EO, which prevented the bear hunt on state lands, is not clear. To reduce nuisance cases with bears, we need a real management plan that will deal with educating the public on how to live with bears and bear-proofing their property. Seeing bears in the woods does not justify hunting them.
Detractors claim it's a controversial trophy hunt, but that argument is devoid of reality.
First, there’s nothing controversial about managing black bears through hunting. Why? The American black bear (Ursus Americanus) is not an endangered or threatened species. Far from it. To insinuate such about the bear’s status is dangerous.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), an organization focused on conserving the integrity and diversity of nature, monitors imperiled species through its Red List and lists them as “Least Concern.” Much to the chagrin of the Sierra Club and Humane Society, their Red List also shows the black bear population is increasing.
Secondly, supporting a bear hunt doesn’t mean extirpating the species from existence. Bear hunters, like other hunters, don’t want to see bear numbers dwindle. They have a vested interest to manage and conserve the species.
States with plentiful bear populations allow seasonal hunts and place reasonable limits on bear harvests. If regulated hunts don’t occur, there’s an imbalance in the ecosystem. Thus, more unnecessary human-bear conflicts.
Thanks to hunters and wildlife specialists, black bears have rebounded to 60 percent of their historical range. North America is home to nearly 900,000 black bears. There are 300,000 American black bears found in the United States alone.
Wildlife managers–in cooperation with hunters and similar conservation stakeholders–administer bear restoration efforts by conducting research efforts in the form of bear den studies, for instance. Bear den studies are carried out by bear biologists who “monitor the dens of hibernating radio-collared female bears and assess their fitness and reproductive success.”
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) adds, “After sedating the female, biologists take her out of the den to check her weight and replace the radio collar. They also see how many cubs she has and how healthy they are, and the cubs are then tagged with microchips for future observation. Cubs will be back with their mother in the den in their second year, which allows the biologists to estimate first-year survival rates.”
These bear dens studies can be experienced by lucky individuals through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program called Partner with a Payer. This initiative is made possible by excise taxes collected on firearms, ammunition, archery, fishing tackle, boating equipment, and licenses under the aforementioned Pittman-Robertson Act.
Governor Phil Murphy’s decision to reinstate the bear hunt should be applauded. Wildlife management shouldn’t be politicized nor devoid of hunting as a management tool.
Unless blue state governors abandon preservationist environmentalist policies, they will sadly bend to powerful special interest groups. Red state governors won’t and shouldn’t.
My fellow conservationists: Hunting could be on the verge of extinction one day if hunting prohibitions prevail. Get involved in the fight to protect this cherished pastime by engaging state legislatures and holding state lawmakers accountable.