More bear discussion

| 29 Sep 2011 | 08:09

    To the Editor: AHHHHH… Mr. Bunk - There you go again — You just don’t get why people are against a bear hunt. In response to your last response: A.) Baiting - Baiting is an easy way out… Let’s say you invited me to dinner. Then you invited me again, then again, then again, then another delicious meal. Then one more invite and when I arrived you shoot me! Does not seem right to me… B.) Yes animals have excellent senses. That is why people in bear country that do not secure trash, bird seed, etc. have break-ins. People in bear country — please educate and get involved! Black bears have never killed anyone in the history of New Jersey — but hunters have. C.) The hunts police presence was huge at Wawayanda check station. So was the media presence. The fence was constructed to keep the public and media from seeing the dead bears — the worst thing for the NJDEP was to have the carnage published in the papers and shown on TV. If you noticed the media was allowed to take photos and footage of two bears… just two — the same two. Approximately 300 were killed, where are the photos of them? Tax payers paid to hide the media from showing the public the truth…Activists were peacefully arrested just as their permit expired. They sat outside the fence only to protest the way they were kept in a corral — intimidated, photographed and gawked at by police, rangers, media, state police and hunters. D.) If there were not groups like the Animal Rights Alliance, The Humane Society, etc. — who would stand up for the creatures that can not speak for themselves? Not the Division of Fish and Wildlife. The 11 member council are all hunters and the rules have not changed for 50 years! It’s time we have a council that has members from both sides — Isn’t this? E.) The “animal rights activists” that were arrested in Wawayanda during the week of the hunt for “harassing hunters” were actually people that were in their own back yard! Good thing they had a video camera to film the hunters “set up.” The hunters were accompanied by a ranger that did nothing when they pointed a gun at the so called activists — I’m sorry, but if I lived in an area where I would see bears pass though my yard and watch their cubs play and grow 365 days a year I would be doing everything in my power to protect them during the one week that strangers come to maim and kill. F.) Freedom Eric? Let me tell you about me… I have lived in West Milford my whole life (45 years) I am not from Bergen County! My back yard is a state forest Motorcycles and ATV’s have destroyed the trails I have hiked on ever since I could walk. They used to be foot paths — now they are roads. As far as bears — It was a joy to me to see this majestic animal pass through my yard, once again after being devastated to the verge of distinction 30 years ago. Now because of a one sided game council, with the same beliefs of 50 years ago the past is being repeated. I will not stop fighting for the rights of those who can not speak for themselves. We will not go away! Remember it is about a bear hunt and mismanagement of wildlife policy! Dale C. Jones West Milford