Nearly 500 bears have been killed in this year's hunt as of Friday but still the rate is below what biologists say is needed to keep the black bear population stable — and to stop it from pushing out further. Watch video
Nearly 500 bears have been killed in this year's hunt as of Friday but still the rate is below what state biologists say is needed to keep the black bear population stable -- and to stop bears from expanding their range throughout the state.
Reintroduced in 2010, the aim of the annual bear hunt, according to the Department of Environmental Protection, is to keep the black bear population in check by balancing out the number of cubs born every year, known as "recruitment." Animal-rights activists and environmental groups have regularly protested the hunt, saying killing the animals is neither humane nor an effective long-term solution.
"We have a very productive bear population that on average has a litter of two or three cubs (each year), but sometimes as many as four or five," said DEP spokesman Larry Hajna. "More bears are being born than are being lost."'
The goal, Hajna said, is to cull between 20 to 30 percent of the 133 bears tagged by the Division of Fish and Wildlife -- a range of between 26 to 40 tagged bears. After the first week of the hunt fell short of that figure despite a greater harvest than the past two years, the season was extended by four days.
Jeff Tittel, president of the N.J. Sierra Club, however, has criticized the harvest as a "trophy hunt" that has little to do with effective wildlife management.
"New Jersey Sierra Club believes, just as we did with the very first hunt, that the hunt is unwarranted, unfounded, and will not help to manage bears in the state of New Jersey," Tittel said. "This is a recreational hunt that will lead to a large loss of the New Jersey black bear population, but will not do anything to deal with nuisance bears...Unless New Jersey deals with protection of habitats, garbage, and educating people in bear country, the hunt is meaningless."
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Effective garbage management only goes so far to address the issue, according to the DEP, because bear country has expanded. Black bears have been sighted in every county in New Jersey, but their greatest density lies in northwestern parts of the state.The DEP estimates that there are as many as three bears per square mile in certain northwestern portions of the state.
"Other states with black bear populations have densities in the range of one bear per three square miles," said DEP spokesman Bob Considine.
"The consequence of too many bears in one area are increased competition for food and dispersal into areas with lower bear densities -- which is why we are now seeing bears throughout all of New Jersey," Considine said.
John Rogalo, a hunter and the board chairman of the N.J. State Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs, said part of the reason hunters haven't hit the DEP's 20- to 30-percent range of tagged bears is the timing of the hunt. Bears are more likely to den up during the winter, but in the fall they're more likely to be active, he said.
"We have by far the densest black bear population in all of North America and we fail to control it," said Rogalo, who also has a background in wildlife management and forestry.
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"I don't put the blame on the Division of Fish and Wildlife," he said. "It's rather on the emotional people protesting the sound management of a natural resource. This is the real world not Disney. Bears are a magnificent animal but when you have too many you reduce them to vermin."
Unlike deer that only live a few years, "(bears) don't die, they live 20 years. What we harvested isn't even a dent in this year's cub crop," he said.
The abundance of garbage created by humans helps support the black bear population, and, according to Rogalo, "bear-proofing" garbage cans and limiting possible food sources only goes so far.
"Bears are strong and they're not stupid," Rogalo said. "If there's food they're going to find a way to get it."
Justin Zaremba may be reached at jzaremba@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinZarembaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.