Hungry Bear looking for food
It seemed like only years ago we were able to enjoy the freedom of owning a piece of property wherein we enjoyed such little pleasures as fruit trees and backyard barbecues. Guests conversing while watching some children running about with a puppy joining the festivities. A variety of birds passing up the backyard feeders to steal at a piece of bread or potato chip left on the ground by some youngsters playing tag or moving about; or perhaps from some sloppy adult.
Adult conversations these days surround the economy, fuel prices, the election, and the war; serious concerns for all of us. Some gather in the backyard others drift off to the porch or garage wherever they can be out of children’s hearing.
The children somewhat shielded by age just enjoy the beauty of a day with family and friends.
Oh yes, those were the days as we heard our own parents say so many times.
Now lets’ fast forward to today, for a number of reasons that no longer matter, this once welcomed freedom has been infringed upon by the “overpopulated” black bear. Why do we have an overpopulation problem? Because anti-hunters and animal-rights groups have infiltrated New Jersey and convinced vote hungry politicians that we should alter our lives to accommodate the wild black bear.
Let’s look at some of the changes:
Store garbage in bear-proof containers (they mean bear resistant as bear proof hardly exists), or store garbage in your garage.
Now this is reasonable only we need to advise the bear’s that garages are off limits and breaking into them is a crime. I guess the adults will have to stop using the garage for conversations or be willing to include the black bear in the discussions.
Keep food indoors or in airtight and order-free containers.
Sure either the guests can go inside each time they want to eat or sort through a variety of airtight lids and forget the appetizing order of food just close your eyes and swallow.
Put away picnic leftovers; clean BBQ grills.
Well don’t know of many that leave leftovers outside, clean the grill of course, and get the order of cooked food off the grill, it will never happen. Therefore, a new option should be offered, discard the grill and buy a new one for each BBQ.
Keep pet food inside, and bird feeders away.
OK, the pet food is easy, but climbing up trees to take in birdfeeders, don’t think so. Just imagine bird seed was the most popular and sold food for years as people enjoyed feeding these harmless birds and watching them scurry about feeder to feeder. Is there any concern for these creatures? Nah, that’s for the birds.
Remove cosmetic fragrances and other attractants.
Oh well! There goes Grandma and Aunt Millie kicked out of the BBQ for overdosing with Chantilly.
Pick-up any residual fruits or nuts from trees on your property.
Great, in addition to working, cleaning the house, taking care of children and figuring out how to make ends meet, we should go out each day and police residual droppings from fruit and nut trees; nuts to that.
Harvest gardens immediately as vegetables mature; keep vegetable gardens free of vegetable wastes.
Now this is good however, how do we convince the bears that eating vegetables before they ripen is wrong, might give them a bellyache. I don’t know about the second part never thought of a vegetables bathroom habits.
Locate compost piles, gardens and fruit orchards at least 50 yards or as far as possible from forest tree lines or other sources of cover for bears.
Well don’t know if the neighbors’ will like the location and if the bears will mind travelling so far from underneath decks.
Keep a close watch on children, and teach them what to do if they encounter a bear.
Now here is the best of all, our backyards were a place where children could play in the security of private property within earshot of the parents. Children, according to age were taught to deal with strangers, human strangers. Now we are supposed to take a small 50 pound child and somehow teach them how to deal with a wild black bear that weighs anywhere from 100 to 700 pounds and at any weight capable of catching a child and seriously mauling and killing them. On top of all this we are to explain to these tots that the bears are not dangerous, but timid and shy and they can share our space. Come-on now.
This is the non-sense we in New Jersey must go through because of all the issues created by misguided people that mislead innocent people, which really do enjoy wildlife, into placing this dangerous, carnivorous mammal in the same category as a deer or rabbit.
We will never, never be able to coexist with black bears unless they are hunted to a manageable population wherein they retreat to the remaining backwoods and return to there once shy personality.
It is not selfish on anyone’s part to expect to enjoy the freedom of their own backyards, to limit dangers to the lowest possible levels for themselves, family and friends. To expect our state biologists and Fish and Wildlife professionals to establish hunting regulations to control wildlife populations, especially dangerous game like the black bear.
Anti-hunters and animal-rights groups are constantly overstepping the boundaries when they really believe that a wild animal/mammal has more rights than a human being. These groups for the most part use politics to further a cause that in the case of the black bear puts human life in danger, they draw contributions from the rich and famous that live in the security of their castles, looking for a path to heaven through some cause, any cause.
Shame of this is that these same groups do good work on other animal issues that have merit, like “domestic” animal rights for horses, dogs, cat, etc. They are not needed in the “wild-kingdom” we have professional biologists all around the country and the endangered species laws they establish and monitor are successful, as with the New Jersey Black Bear.
We all need to look at this, a black bear being “culled” to a level that enables them to thrive in their own natural habitant or a child or adult being mauled or killed again, as is happening, because we put wild life before human life. What kind of sensible, caring human being would opt for the later?
Lastly, as for sure some anti-hunter will attempt to put “the-hunting-spin” on this issue, hunting is a legal right and heritage of this free country and in this free country one has the right to participate or not. Hunting is also a wildlife management tool, in fact, the only proven method.
Sterilization, is a failure and an anti’s smoke screen for stalling the inevitable, a hunt. Criticizing the New Jersey Fish and Wildlife and/or our professional biologists is just another flaw in the character of these groups. These professionals have had to listen to criticism not only from the anti’s but from the politicians that these groups have succeeded in influencing.
Here we have highly educated professionals that must attempt to perform the job assignments they were trained for while walking on egg shells to somehow create a balance with hostile anti-hunting and animal-rights groups.
Some of these groups are pushing to have members of there organizations take a seat on the F&G Council. Try reversing this and ask them to place a hunter on their boards; it will never happen.
Support the biologists and F&G that use science instead of politics and emotions to level the playing field and create the proper balance of wild game to humans.
Mike D
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There has to be a better resolution to the bear population than slaughtering them.
Ive seen the trucks and trailers with the ‘ trophies ‘ .
Perhaps we shouldn’t build houses and put our backyards in their territory.
Where do we really expect them to go ?
I dont mind putting the garbage in the shed, and keeping food inside.
I’m more concerned of homeless ex-cons, and crazy ppl with guns.
C.linke, thank you for the response and sorry for the delay the reply administrator just made me aware of your comment and I posted it immediately:
Unfortunately “slaughtering” is the definition of the way livestock like; cows, lambs, chickens, etc are killed and processed in order to satisfy over 97% of the meat eating human population in the United States.
Another 90% + of the wildlife you see carried openly in trucks and trailers, etc, as required by law in many states, are not “trophies” but simply wild game “culled” for food consumption by people that prefer “legal” hunting to obtain their own food rather than relying soley on the “slaughter” of penned up domestic livestock. Not that anything is wrong with those that prefer this option to hunting for one’s own meat.
It is much to late to consider the location of houses although New Jersey is allowing farmland preservation as an option to selling land to developers but this will never solve a black bear population that is allowed to grow beyond the tates natural land carrying capacity.
Putting garbage in the shed or garage is fine but then black bears break into those sheds, garages and now houses. Keeeping food inside comon, the country is an an economic funk, people are losing jobs, houses, retirement funds, etc so add to this giving up the right to enjoy a backyard, an outside barbacue due to “over-populated” black bears, don’t think so.
Homeless ex-cons and crazy people with guns are arrested, prosecuted put in jail or given death penalities for committing crimes like, attacking humans, breaking into houses and and and, killing domestic pets. So if we follow your logic then black bears should be given the same sentences for those very same crimes they are committing. Or is this an animal has more rights than human issue?
In 2008 Catagory 1 Bears, that are a threat to public safety and property. These are the most serious bear-human interactions and include livestock kills, pet kills, vehicle entries, home entries, attacks on humans, and similiar events are up from 112 in (2007) to 276 in (2008) a 146+ increase.
In 2008 Catagory 11 Bears, Nuisance Bears that are not yet a threat to public safety or property (but can soon graduate to Catagory 1 ) are up from 726 in (2007) to 1489 in (2008) a 105% + increase.
We now have (28) states that have large enough black bear problems to manadate a reduction in the black bear population. All (28) of the Governors of these states allow their Fish&Wildlife professional biologists to solve the problem and they have successfully done so by imposing hunting seasons, most for decades.
New Jersey cannot continue to ignore the need for “hunting” as a necessary means to bring the black bear population to numbers that allow the safe coexistence with humans.
Anti-hunting and Animal Rights groups have exhausted the “TROPHY-HUNTING” argument, this is not about trophy hunting as although New Jersey may have some large class black bears they have a larger percentage of average black bears that just need culling.
It is not a “no-human has been killed in years” issue as this is “inevitable” as the black bears have increased human encounters and house breakins.
So far it is just luck that humans have escaped with scrapes, slashes and black bears in their houses as they climb out windows or lock themselves in rooms.
Luck will run out in (2009) when the black bears emerge from semi-hibernation, in greater numbers with less than-ever fear of humans, with more humans at home due to loss of jobs and the off economy.
Just what we need to an already depressed country and state.
Mike D