What took him so long?
Governor Phil Murphy announced on Thursday that the New Jersey Fish and Game Council will consider reversing the current New Jersey black bear hun ban at it’s Tuesday, November 15th meeting, a Murphy era policy which has allowed the state’s black bear population to reach a dangerous level.
“Since the outset of my Administration, I have promised to ground every difficult decision on the latest science and evidence in order to protect our communities,” said Murphy in a statement. “From the data we have analyzed to the stories we have heard from families across the state, it is clear that New Jersey’s black bear population is growing significantly, and nonlethal bear management strategies alone are not enough to mitigate this trend. Every New Jerseyan deserves to live in communities in which their children, families, and property are protected from harm, and while I committed to ending the bear hunt, the data demands that we act now to prevent tragic bear-human interactions. We must responsibly adapt to the population with carefully regulated and strict bear population management strategies to ensure our communities and families are protected from the growing black bear population.”
Did you catch that part about science? I suspect you did. The science has NEVER supported ending the hunt which serves as an important conservation measure. Murphy simply bowed to the environmentalists in his political coalition; politics guides all of his “scientific” decisions from bear management to masking.
In this case, Murphy sat on his hands.
“When Governor Murphy eliminated the bear hunt on state lands in 2018 and then eliminated it altogether in 2021, he promised to “develop a new black bear policy that keeps public safety at the forefront of our concerns while protecting wildlife in the State,” Michael Inganamort, council President in Chester Township explained in a July 2022 Save Jersey op-ed. “As of this writing, that policy does not exist beyond recommendations for bear-safe garbage cans. New Jersey’s black bear population is wholly unmanaged, to the point that the state is not even conducting annual bear counts anymore. Sussex County Commissioner Dawn Fantasia has been relentless in calling for a comprehensive bear management policy. Instead, the state closed certain state parks to camping.”
I’m happy the hunt is coming back but we’re not going to congratulate Phil for being way behind the ball once again.
Call me when he apologizes for the nursing homes. That’s when I’ll be impressed.
