This letter is in regards to an article Bear Activists trial put off. For the second time in three years, Ms. Kehoe was charged with feeding black bears on her property in the Lake Wanda section that borders Wawayanda State Park. As a result of the first offense, she was given a warning as required by New Jersey law. Pending the outcome of the second charge, if guilty, she faces a fine up to $1000.
Kehoes attorney is arguing that the law against feeding bears is not fairly enforced, since hunters are permitted to use food as bait for bears while hunting them. The attorney is questioning why enticing bears with food to shoot them with guns is legal. However, enticing the same bears with food to shoot them with a camera is illegal. Double standard? You cant say hunters can feed bears but the rest of us cant, said the attorney. Either it applies to everyone or it applies to no one. I say it sure is a double standard and this just goes to show how corrupt the system is.
Kehoe is just one person. Yet, thousands of hunters have been allowed to feed/bait bears weeks if not months before the December hunt.
Hunters are close to trail heads, some kill in their own backyards or on private property (sometimes for a fee). Hunters know exactly what bear or mother with cubs they will be killing come December. Dont be taken for a fool. Plus, by baiting with unnatural food such as bagels, donuts, bacon fat and molasses-drenched food sources, hunters are creating and therefore eating garbage bears.
If Ms. Kehoe is guilty of luring bears into one area where humans are present, then so are the hunters. As the attorney stated, it either applies to everyone or it applies to no one.
Lily DeMarco Hewitt