Bears in the Backyard

A report on the website for Audubon includes details to expand black bear hunts in a variety of states:

Nearly 30 states across the nation have a fall black bear hunting season. As black bear populations have increased—along with bear/human incidents—some states are considering expanding the number of hunting permits allotted to take the creatures. For the first time in five years, New Jersey is considering a state-approved bear hunt. On the opposite coast, California proposed changes to broaden where and how the omnivores can be hunted.

Fred J. Aun, writing in The Star-Ledger, states the obvious: The election of Republican Chris Christie as governor makes a bear hunt a lot more likely. Gov. Jon Corzine opposed the hunt, and Christie seems a lot more conciliatory toward hunters. Aun says a restored bear hunt “would be a big deal mainly because the bear hunt, more than any other issue, brought to the fore the divide in New Jersey between pro-hunting-and-fishing wildlife conservationists and the anti-hunting (and, sometimes, anti-fishing) animal-rights contingent.”

But hold on a minute here… Is this really an accurate portrayal of things? That the hunters are “wildlife conservationists” and those against bear hunting are simply an “animal-rights contingent”? The return of bears to New Jersey is an amazing story, and it didn’t happen because of hunting; it happened, in part, because of a lack of hunting. Sure, the story is far more complex than that, but plenty of people, myself included, remain wary of the idea of a bear hunt in New Jersey. And being wary of a bear hunt doesn’t mean we’re part of any anti-hunting contingent.

That’s what wildlife authorities want to know.

The authorities say a female bear was found dead on Three Rivers Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Concordia Parish on Sunday, Dec. 20. The bear was identified as one of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) research bears equipped with a transmitter collar.

The bear was shot, making it the fourth illegally killed bear on a WMA to date for the 2009-10 hunting season.

“The loss of another adult female in her prime is a significant loss to bear recovery,” noted state wildlife secretary Robert J. Barham. “Setbacks like these are not only frustrating and costly, but they may also delay removal of the Louisiana black bear from the Endangered Species List.”

The clue something was amiss? When a wildlife officer in Pennsylvania spotted a guy with a truckload of pastries.

Here’s what the wildlife officer said:

As we were about one week away from the opening of the statewide bear season, I thought that something illegal might be underway. Being that we were so close to bear season, seeing that person drive by with an unusual amount of pastries was like watching an individual go down a row of parked vehicles testing each handle to see if it were open. Something just didn’t seem right.

As it turns out, the guy killed a 707-pound bear, and it was the largest harvested in the state’s hunting season.

The Miami Herald website is running a story about the possibility of a black bear hunting season in Florida, “Black bear hunting proposed for Panhandle.” The “proposal,” it seems, is actually one from the vice president of the Florida Bear Hunters Association.

According to the story, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman Lt. Stan Kirkland said officials “might not buy” the idea of a hunt. He said:

“Even though population has increased, we could not sustain hunting. It is not a biological decision only; there are other related factors, such as it being public-supported or not. There is a sociological issue here. Some citizens would be very angry at opening up a bear season regardless of the population number. This is because they view these animals of the wild as being cute like teddy bears and do not want to see them killed.”

Interesting language there—that is, the official’s sensitivity to the fact that deciding on a hunt isn’t just about the bear population, but about various sociological and cultural issues, such as residents’ attitudes toward bears.