Legislators Urge Gov. Corzine To Take Off Blinders Concerning Bear Management

If you will recall, it was only this past September that New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine told the public there was no bear problem in his state.

New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine exemplified his expertise, dazzled us with his wisdom and bowled us over with his intelligence recently by telling a reporter for the New Jersey Herald that the current black bear problem in parts of New Jersey was only a problem “if you want to call it that”.

While Corzine lives in denial over his state’s black bear problems, others are now beginning to make demands on the governor to do something about it. On Monday, Senator Steven Oroho, Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose, and Assemblyman Gary Chiusano sent out a press release asking the Gov. “to adopt scientifically-valid policies” in dealing with a 97 percent increase in bear complaints across the state with most concentrated in the northwestern sectors.

“The Governor’s bear management policies are based on little more than a reflexive opposition to hunting, disregard of science and a dose of wishful thinking,” said Oroho. “The numbers compiled by the Division of Fish and Wildlife demonstrate a different approach is adamantly necessary.”

I hold out little hope that Corzine and his factory of anti-hunting, animal rights zealots under him will make any attempt at opening up a bear hunting season anytime soon. The trio of representatives say that Corzine’s policies on bear management have completely failed.

“While it is clear that the Governor does not like implementing a controlled hunting season that is based upon scientific data, it is also equally clear that his current policies are an abject failure,” said Chiusano. “Since he has rejected our attempts to implement a reasonable and science-based policy to deal with the escalating bear crisis, it is time for the Governor to announce what he intends to do to protect the safety of the people of northwestern New Jersey, because we are now well past the point of telling people to sprinkle ammonia in their trash cans.”

We still hear that New Jersey doesn’t have a black bear management plan, like this is somehow the fault of the fish and game department, which prohibits the state from doing much more than buying more faulty bear-proof garbage cans. After the last bear hunt in 2005 and once Corzine was elected governor and he appointed his puppet, Liza Jackson to head the Department of Environmental Protection, the court-approved Bear Management Plan was tossed in the garbage. Jackson, with the blessings of the anti-hunting Corzine, ripped up the plan and announced that New Jersey would never hunt bears again.

Their plan has been a complete failure and with bears heading for dens for the winter soon and a new crop of cubs expected in the spring, people in New Jersey had better prepare for close encounters of bear kind next spring.

Something needs to change. The question is, what, if anything, will Corzine do?

Tom Remington

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Related Articles

• Gov. Corzine Sees No Bear Problem (5)
• Bear Complaints Up 44% In New Jersey (5)
• Time To Do Something About New Jersey Bears……Or Else I’ll Tell You It’s Time To Do Something About Bears (6)
• Black Bear Blog’s Top 10 Stories Of 2008 – Author’s Choice (8)
• N.J. Gov. Corzine’s Bear Mess He Denies (1)
• NJ Gov. Corzine Once Agains Claims No Bear Problem (4)
• Three Out Of Five New Jersey Bears Prefer Blackberries Over Blueberries (12)