Council pens resolution to rebuke Gov. Murphy’s bear hunting ban

Published Sep 18, 2018 at 5:40 pm (Updated Sep 18, 2018)

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Ann Genader Photo Township resident eric bunk makes the case for allowing bear hunting on public land during the Sept. 5 Township Council meeting.

By Ann Genader

WEST MILFORD - Safety concerns that come with bear overpopulation have convinced the local governing body to consider passing a resolution opposing Gov. Phil Murphy’s executive order banning bear hunting on state owned parkland as a means of bear population control.

After a discussion at its Sept. 5 work session meeting, the West Milford Township Council instructed Township Administrator Antoinette Battaglia to research and prepare a resolution for its consideration.

The proposed resolution would ask that the state continue to have bear hunts on publicly owned parkland as a means of responsible control of the bear population, going directly against Gov. Murphy’s executive order banning the hunts.

Some residents and officials also asked that the document ask the state to discontinue the known practice of releasing problem bears caught in more populated municipalities into West Milford and other wooded areas in the northern part of the state.

Councilman Pete McGuinness and Councilwoman Andrena Pegel no doubt will have questions before voting if a resolution is on the council table for passage.

During the discussion McGuinness said he needed much more information than what has been available to him before he votes in favor of the planned resolution.

Pegel shared her opinion that bears are “God’s creatures” and have a right to be here. She cited a need for education and learning to live with the bears as it is their home too.

Passionate support for bear hunts came from Eric Bunk and Rick Ashley, lifelong residents who, like their ancestors before them, hunt, fish, and trap animals for food since they were young.

They said they respect the bears, but want a healthy control of the population to exist for both the health and safety of people and the animals too.

Bunk said that professional state biologists have recognized a need for bear hunts as a means of controlling the bear population. He said it is unfortunate that the governor apparently does not heed their advice in regard to support of bear hunting.

He said he would like Gov. Murphy to make a trip to West Milford and directly address the residents of New Jersey’s “bear country.”

When surplus bears were harvested in hunts during the last couple of years, healthy control of their population was evident with decreased problems. Without a hunt, years followed with bears attacking domestic animals and breaking into homes among the crazy things that were happening with human and bear interactions locally, Bunk said.

He said there is no “bear resistant” garbage can because the bears are smart and figure out a way to get garbage out of the cans and then teach their young to do the same.

Bunk said hunters and their families cook the meat and enjoy camaraderie with other hunters at gatherings. He said hunting is better than seeing some members of an overpopulated bear community being struck by motor vehicles and their carcasses taken away.

Ashley said problems with bears lessened when their population was controlled by a hunt.

He and Bunk both said that the bears had then returned to their natural forest habitat to eat berries and other traditional foods.

With overpopulation, however, the bears became braver and more brazen and learned to get into all types of garbage cans, passing that knowledge to their young.

They said mother bears used to have one or two cubs at a time but when they took to eating garbage left by humans in their containers, the females became stronger and more fertile, now having as many as five young in a litter.

Ashley said the bears are no longer nocturnal and that is also creating a problem. Bears have been showing up at school playgrounds, causing them to be closed, and children losing outdoor recess time as a result.

Councilmen Michael Hensley and Lou Signorino, both fathers, said they were very concerned about safety issues regarding the bears.

Hensley said he saw five of the animals in his yard in recent years, and understands the potential danger that could result from their presence.