http://www.nj.com/sussex-county/index.ssf/2015/03/nj_bear_hunt_animal-rights_group_doubt_population.html

BySeth Augenstein | NJ Advance Media for

March 04, 2015

Opponents of a bigger, longer bear hunt charged today that the state is

artificially inflating the number of bruins in New Jersey to placate

hunters, and have vowed to fight a plan to kill more bears each year.

The state’s Fish and Game Council unanimously approved a bear

“management” plan Tuesday that would open the majority of North Jersey

to the hunt adding a total of 633 square miles of new hunting grounds.

The plan would also lengthen the hunt to as much as 16 days each year,

including a week in October, instead of just the current 6-day December

season. The use of bows and arrows would also be allowed.

The bear population is the big contention point, as it has been for more

than a decade of courtroom battles and public protests.

“We’ll be considering all our options — including legal options,” added

Doris Lin, director of legal affairs for the Animal Protection League of

New Jersey.

Before the annual hunt started in 2010, the bear population was

estimated by the state at 3,400. About 1,900 were killed over the course

of the five yearly hunts, held each December.The state said there were

2,500 bears prior to the December 2014 hunt, officials

said at the time.

But when the plan for future hunts was unveiled Tuesday, the population

estimate was revised to its highest total yet: anywhere from 3,500 to

4,000. State biologists said it was data collected during the December

hunt that showed an unexpected surge in the population.

“They have high reproductive rates,” said Tony McBride, a supervising

wildlife biologist with the Division. “It’s all habitat quality.”

Black bear litters are larger here than the average in other parts of

North America, the state scientists say. Females bears in New Jersey

produce three bears per litter — compared to one or two per litter in

the western United States, said McBride.

But five or six cubs have been counted in some New Jersey litters,

according to the new bear management plan. The Garden State has the

perfect mix of southern and northern forests that provide a variety of

acorns and other natural foods which lead to much higher reproductive

rates, said McBride.

But skepticism from the critics abounds. Animal-rights groups allege the

Division of Fish and Wildlife changes its estimates to suit its

hunter-first plans.

The latest population estimates are a way to drum up public support for

the hunt, they contend.

“Whenever it’s convenient for them, they say the bear population is

going up or going down,” said Lin. “Now that they want to expand the

hunt, they say they’re up.”

“It’s hard to know what to say,” added Susan Russell, the wildlife

policy director of the Animal Protection League. “The hunters wanted to

get bowhunting, and they got bowhunting. This is what they wanted — and

they’re going to get it.”

The public will have its say on the new hunt and management plan. The

DEP commissioner must approve the plan, it must be published in the New

Jersey Register, and the public will have 60 days to comment – including

a hearing. Bothwill be announced by the DEP

An NJ Advance Media analysis of statewide bear complaints conducted in

December showed that Category I incidents — the most-serious and aggressive incidents

— increased significantly after the 2013 hunt, as the population

approached pre-hunt levels, according to Department of Environmental

Protection statistics.Aggressive-bear complaints were initially pushed

down by the first hunts, but later made a resurgence.

Dave Chanda, the director of the Division of Fish and Wildlife, told NJ

Advance Media that the approval of the new plan would be too late to

open for the October season this year.