Bear Complaints Up 44% In New Jersey
July 22, 2008
It’s all very laughable but not very funny, especially if you are one of those people who has to encounter a hungry or problem bear ripping at your door or window looking for food. As most readers know, when Gov. Jon Corzine took office, he saw to it that an end was put to bear hunting in the Garden State. Well, he got his wish.
The dictatorial regime of the Department of Environmental Protection took control of things concerning bear hunting, threw out court-approved documents, along with wildlife management science and now they are paying the price.
Complaints being filed by citizens about bears has risen by 44% over last year and now state legislators are asking the DEP for a report on how many bears are in New Jersey. NJ.com says that the DEP doesn’t have any numbers because “We’ve changed our methodology, and we’re using DNA analysis now for our population estimates. We just don’t have anything for 2008 right now, and we won’t for a while,”
It sounds to me more like under the direction of Liza Jackson at DEP, whose strings are pulled by Corzine, that the DEP has resorted to the “natural” wildlife management plan, where ignorant people believe that if we just leave things to Mother Nature, magic happens.
I wonder who will be responsible for property damage, injury or perhaps death because the state of New Jersey refuses to use proper bear management?
Tom Remington
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I’m curious. How does a DNA analysis count bear?
But, they were forthcoming with what they didn’t have for
2008 estimates (and won’t, for a while), unless they do know
the numbers and aren’t telling…….oh, sorry.
I am not a scientist but I believe with DNA testing they can tell how many bears have moved from one area to another and with how many others mating has taken place. Perhaps it’s called, like with the wolves, genetic exchange.
Don’t be fooled though, it’s all still just guessing and approximating. Until someone actually rounds them ALL up and counts them ALL, we will never know.
Or maybe he just doesn’t know what the hell he is talking about…..Where is the DNA going to come from? “Representive” animals? Or better yet, bear scat? I don’t need to be a scientist to see the flaws in any science….that uses stupidity or nonsence to “prove” it’s conclusions…there have been all too many stupidities in past science, to swallow the pill without checking! Especially if they think it’s beyond their understanding!
I just checked into DNA population estimates, which Arizone and others are using…Basically, they are just setting up “stations”, where bears can come and go to bait, and they get their hair caught in barbed wire around the bait!
Then each sample is going to show how many individual bears are coming to the bait. That is great for each location, but just how many stations they have, and just where they are located is going to determine more or less of their accuracy…See: http://fwp.mt.gov/mtoutdoors/html/articles/2005/BarbedWireBears.htm
Until we question how someone is obtaining their “scientific” facts, we haven’t the faintist idea whether or not they have any validity…
So, in this case, DNA is useful, but not conclusive in itself…..it simply depends on how it is collected!
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