Sportsmen believe New Jersey Governor will ban bear hunt (11/21/2003)

A growing string of evidence suggests that New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey may bow to animal rights pressure and cancel the state's upcoming black bear hunt, according to the nation's principal sportsmen's advocacy organization.

"The McGreevey administration has time and again displayed its sympathy for the anti-hunting cause," said U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance Vice President for Government Affairs Rob Sexton.

The Alliance has been in business since 1978, fighting anti-hunting issues, and tracking the decisions of elected officials sympathetic to the anti-hunting movement. Sexton explained that all signs point to McGreevey siding with anti-hunting activists against wildlife experts, public safety concerns and hunters.
"The governor has created committees to establish wildlife policy and stacked them with animal rights advocates," he said. McGreevey's Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner, Bradley Campbell, has in recent weeks gone so far as to blame homeowners for incidents with nuisance black bears.

Campbell has admitted to wanting to take a serious look at birth control for the animals, as a means of controlling wildlife populations, in order to discourage hunting.

Most recently the state attorney general filed its opposition to the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance Foundation's involvement in opposing a lawsuit that seeks to ban the black bear hunt.

The attorney general maintains that the state will adequately represent hunters' interests. However, the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance believes that the facts surrounding the government's position indicate that there is an excellent chance that the state will not adequately represent hunters.

Sexton said, "The government's objection to our involvement in the case only adds to our concern that its real agenda is to capitulate to the animal rights lobby. We would hate to see this case blown only to fulfill the governor's political agenda. More importantly, the governor could wind up with blood on his hands while he is playing political games."

The New Jersey Fish and Game Council approved the black bear hunt in July to address concerns about the state's uncontrolled black bear population and the problems, including human conflicts with bears, which result from it. The conflicts include an incident in May in which a New Jersey toddler was struck on the head by a 175-pound female bear. In August, an 18-year-old woman survived a bear attack at a park near her home.

The U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance is calling on New Jersey citizens to contact Gov. McGreevey at (609) 292-6000 and urge him to protect public safety and sportsmen's rights. Ask him to allow the black bear hunt to continue as scheduled December 8-13.

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