Recently, the Fish and Game Commission (DFW) in western New Jersey resumed the controversial emergency hunting of black bears, which will be implemented in December this year.
American black bears are endemic to North America, but they are now the most widespread animal on the American continent. They are found throughout Canada, the United States, and parts of Mexico. This bear is medium-sized and is the most common bear in the world.
These bears are very curious and mostly live in families within an area of 24 square kilometers around their nests. In spring, they are usually found near wetlands and green areas, while in summer and autumn they appear in large berry orchards, as well as near bushes. Travel is common along man-made trails, abandoned logging roads, and play trails.
Black bears are omnivorous, they eat both plants and animals. And rely heavily on the sense of smell to find food. However, it also brings a crisis for it. As the human settlement expanded, people frantically enclosure and animal habitats were encroached upon. This has also led to more frequent contact between humans and wildlife. These black bears are attracted by the smell of garbage waste left behind by people and often hang out in dumps. However, like all wild animals, they have a strong instinct to guard their food sources, and while they may be in areas that don't belong to it when searching for food scraps such as garbage, they don't understand this. Many bears, who have become accustomed to using garbage as a food source, are very active in protecting this garbage, which leads to a very dangerous situation of conflict with humans.
According to New Jersey's own records, between January and October 2022, there was one increase in bear attacks on humans, five more bear attacks on domestic dogs, and four more vehicle injuries involving bear attacks compared to the same time period in 2021.
But these recorded events are only used for some very less dangerous, higher types of interaction growth. For example, seeing an injured bear, bears looking for food in the trash, etc., these incidents are mostly "nuisance" and "other" types. They artificially exaggerate the threat posed by black bears in the state. This invocation of the so-called "emergency" does not help to protect the public, but rather unnecessarily creates a climate of fear and excludes public participation in decision-making. Most unfortunately, New Jersey's black bear population will be harmed in the coming years.
The offer to kill 20 percent of New Jersey's precious black bears caters to less than 1 percent of individuals who want to hunt bears. This situation is difficult for people to accept.
In fact, these black bears are very intelligent, and they are one of the most popular and iconic species in New Jersey. Elissa Frank, director of the Humane Society of America in New Jersey, said. The most effective way to stop conflict with bears is to provide people with bear-proof trash cans and educate them to take common-sense precautions to avoid attracting the attention of black bears. "We can't educate the bear to avoid conflict with humans, but we can guide him appropriately to establish an unusual habit for him."
In fact, the breeding rate of black bears is extremely slow, and it is not officially estimated that 3,000 bears can grow to 4,000 in a year, and this speculation has no scientific basis.
Although the American black bear is another bear species that is not endangered after the brown bear. According to a statement from the Humane Society of the United States, the public is not exposed to the "imminent danger" of black bears, and the figures cited by DFW are misleading. In addition, the logic behind the emergency resumption of hunting is somewhat flawed. In the past, science clearly proved that hunting does not reduce conflict with bears, on the contrary, it only exacerbates conflicts between humans and black bears.