By Desirée Taylor
NJ Today
The number of bear sightings and complaints has dropped in New Jersey so far this year, according to data from the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife. Assistant Director Larry Herrighty said, “There are fluctuations in bear complaints from year to year depending on weather and available food. It’s still early and some bears may be laying low because of the warm weather.”
There are about 3,000 bears in New Jersey with bear sightings reported in all 21 counties. They’re a common sight in Sussex and Passaic counties, also known as bear country. Fredon resident Ray Boyle said people here have learned to live with the bears.
“I haven’t heard about damage to animals,” said Boyle. “They pilfer through the garbage. That’s it.”
But Hamburg resident Debbie Ike has a different perspective. “There have been incidents in the area where they have come close to dwellings,” said Ike. “That does concern me.”
Bear hunts are one part of the state’s comprehensive bear management programs. Over the past two years, about 1,000 bears have been eliminated. And despite the decrease in the number of sightings and complaints, the hunt is scheduled to go in a few months.
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“We have over 3,000 bears. That’s too many,” said Herrighty, Assistant Director of the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife. “There are over 29 states that have viable bear populations. And every one of them uses a managed sports hunt to control the population.”
But bear advocates believe there are other options. “Bear hunts are recreational trophy hunts,” said Doris Lin of the Bear Education and Research Group. “The best way to live with bears is by using non-lethal management, things like garbage control. That way we can coexist with bears.” Lin believes the state is pushing for a hunt in order to sell more hunting licenses. But Herrighty said that’s not true.
State officials wouldn’t say how much more the bear population needs to be reduced. But they note that there were fewer complaints in the early 1990s when there were about 500 bears in the state.