NJ 2008 Bear Incidents Up, Alarmingly

[apmaurosr]

This information is intended for educational purposes.

New Jersey "BEAR ACTIVITY REPORT:"
For the period January 1, 2008 through April 20, 2008 versus same period in 2007.

Category I Bear incidents are up a whopping 314.3% this year over the same period last year (January 1 -April 20.) Category 1 contains the most severe incidents. Increases were seen in the categories; Attempted Home Entry, Home Entry, Livestock Kills, Aggressive behavior, Vehicle Entry, and Rabbit Attacks. A total incident report in category I (one) is 29 in 2008 versus 7 in 2007.

Category II Bear incidents have also increased a stunning 177.4%. Property Damage, Nuisance and Garbage incidents were the categories that contained the complaints. A total incident report in category II (two) is 172 in 2008 versus 62 in 2007.

Even Category III complaints (Bird Feeder damage, Sightings and Vehicle Strikes) are up 46.3% from prior year (79 incidents in 2008 versus 54 incidents in 2007.)

These figures do NOT include incidents reported to police departments without assistance from the DEP.

These incidents are NOT restricted to one or two areas of New Jersey or a hand-full of people. The above complaints include the counties that reported activity, which were: Sussex, Ocean, Warren, Morris, Somerset, Passaic, and Hunterdon.

As the population of bears continues to increase in NJ, unrestricted by any method of population control, so too do the risks to humans and pets.

This information is taken from publicly disclosed documents. Although black bear attacks on humans are infrequent there are a reported 52 known fatal black bear attacks in North America during the last 100 years.

Ant
Anthony P. Mauro, Sr.
Chairman, NJOA

[Bucktail]

Hmmm... interesting. 

Although they don't mention it, I'd be willing to bet the number of attempted pic-a-nic basket thefts are up as well.

[rugman]

you must be talking about N.Y WE DONT HAVE ANY BEARS IN N.J roflaBRING THE HUNT ON 

[Treebeard]

So..NJ pays Biologists to study wildlife populations, and they confirm that the bear pop. is way up and needs harvesting for reduction.. Then the State buckles to a group who learned everything they know about wildlife from Walt Disney.. Is anyone in NJ surprised that incidents are up? What did they think would happen?

[Bucktail]

a group who learned everything they know about wildlife from Walt Disney..

Unfortunately this group of folks is steadily becoming the majority in this country.  They have been taught through cartoons and movies to see bears and other animals as lovable critters who just want to sing and dance. 

These people have lost all touch with reality.  They have no real sense of their own true nature, let alone the true nature of the world.

It's very sad.

[Treebeard]

It will be even sadder when one comes dancing into a backyard and grabs up an unsuspecting toddler who had no choice in the decision.. And lets not forget these are the same people who have their sights set on anglers these days.."Save Nemo!!"  will be the cry..

[Luna Sea 5]

 

[Still Running]

There is a guy I see every morning on my way to work who has a laptop on the roof of his car and holding an antenna looking for bears. I know this because I stopped one day to ask him what he is doing. He has been there about two years, every day of the week. Come to my house on garbage day and watch for them. They come down the street like drunken sailors, hitting all of the cans. I out smarted them; I put the cans out in the AM. It beets cleaning up the mess before work. Pretty smart uh?  Most of my neighbors haven’t figured that out.

[Sam3]

It's amazing that people put their garbage out the night before. I hear ya Diesel, I'm not far from you. Byram/Sparta border. Plenty o' bears around here.

I see plenty of tipped cans and garbage bags a few hundred feet away when I leave for work.

[IrishAyes]

I see plenty of tipped cans and garbage bags a few hundred feet away when I leave for work.

We only have the freakin kids do that around here. 

[apmaurosr]

LOL. You guys are great.

As you guys know, as the population of bears continues to increase in NJ, unrestricted by any method of population control, so too do the risks to humans and pets.

What we have is a burgeoning bear population, increasingly coming into contact with humans. This is documented in the increase in bear incidents this year.

The increase in human/bear contact, and the more congested human/bear living quarters adds "stress" to both humans and bears. Animals, like humans, become "less predictable" when under stress. The fact that there are 52 human fatalities is proof that bears will attack humans.

Add the fact that black bears are know to attack humans, along with the "stress" of cramped living arrangements between bears and humans and you have a formula for a tragedy.

I am fortunate in that I don't live in one of the counties mentioned, so my family is not being put at risk by the state in order to advance a political agenda.

Having a child playing in a yard near where there are 10 bears feeding (yes, the DFW has reported such findings) is one of the concerns as I see it. The citizens of NJ should not have to fear putting out their garbage or letting their kids play safely in their back yard - or flee their home because bears are breaking in (yes, there were 5 attempted entries, 4 acutual home entries, and one where the bear caused the home owner to flee his home through a window.)

The other issue is having a bear policy that manages the bear population with respect to the available habitat and interactions with humans. It's called "conservation." For nearly 100 years conservation has been the basis for hunting, fishing and trapping in America with notable success. Why is NJ abdicating science for politics?
Ant

[Still Running]

Yea Sam I have had them run out in front of me on Glen Rd, walk past me one time I was watering the garden and my dog was barking, I turned around and there he was just walking down the St. Kids in the school down the St had to come in from recess because of a bear in the playgroud. Some will get hert one day. hate to see it. I am not a hunter, but something needs to be done. I love it when you see on the news that someone has a bear in the yard in Bergen county. They catch it and relocate it. Where, by us! Till some kid get hirt nothing will get done.

[brijones1]

Go Bears!!