Tis the season for bear hating propaganda/violence

Oct. 9 marked the beginning of another black bear massacre, which has been happening since 2010 when Gov. Christie began vilifying black bears to cash in on campaign promises to the NRA and other pro-hunting groups like the NJ Outdoors Alliance, who rallied for his election.

Having lost 14,000 hunters in the last five years—less than one percent of NJ residents hunted in 2016—the DEP is more desperate than ever to spread its bear hating propaganda to attract hunting clients and convince the public bears are a nuisance.

This year it stooped to an alltime low—spreading the false claim that since the addition of the October hunt in 2016, overall bear complaints have dropped 55 percent, and Category 1 complaints involving encounters have dropped 65 percent. But the agency’s 2017 report measures data from Jan. 1 to Sept. 20, not from Jan. 1-Dec. 31 like previous ones.

Reports also show bear activity increased in 2011 and 2014 when the hunts were occurring. And incidences of bears getting into garbage and bird feeders have essentially stayed the same since 2010. That’s because killing bears won’t do anything to educate them not be opportunistic feeders. It’s up to humans to use bear-resistant garbage cans and remove bird feeders from March-November, etc. It’s the DEP’s responsibility to educate residents.

The majority of NJ residents think violence towards animals is not recreation. What a shame the state’s wildlife agency is working for the NRA rather than more than 99 percent of residents.

— Priscilla Feral, President,

Friends of Animals