NJ postpones black bear hunt 'until further notice' as it awaits court ruling

As attorneys prepared briefs for the latest legal skirmish over New Jersey's black bear hunt, the state Department of Environmental Protection on Thursday announced the upcoming season has been suspended indefinitely.

The news was posted on the agency website and distributed by email, a day after a state appellate court judge issued an emergency stay blocking the hunt, scheduled to start on Monday.

"The black bear hunt scheduled to begin on Dec. 5, 2022, is suspended until further notice," the agency announced. "As the appeal of the emergency adoption authorizing the hunt is to be heard on an expedited schedule, hunters should regularly check the NJDEP Fish and Wildlife webpage for updates."

In November, the state Fish and Game Council ratified a surprise announcement by DEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette and Gov. Phil Murphy that the state would hold a six-day bear hunt to coincide with the six-day shotgun deer season. Murphy had previously opposed a hunt but said he was convinced by biologists that a rapid increase in the bear population has led to more dangerous encounters with humans.

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The deer season will go on as scheduled, but hunters will not be allowed to hunt black bears, even if they have purchased a permit. As of Thursday afternoon when the hunt was formally suspended, the state had sold 5,440 of the 11,000 available permits.

Thursday's suspension was a technicality after state appellate Judge Lisa Rose put a temporary hold on the hunt Wednesday in response to a lawsuit brought by three anti-hunt groups. The organizations − the Animal Protection League, Humane Society of the United States and Friends of Animals − argued the 11-member council acted improperly in declaring an emergency and scheduling the bear season.

Rose give the opponents until 4 p.m. Friday to file a formal written request to her and Appellate Division Chief Justice Carmen Messano. Those papers will be made available to the state DEP, which must file its response by 4 p.m. Monday, Rose said.

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In her decision, Rose said there will be no second round of response briefs. She did not set a deadline for judicial action.

The state has the option of extending the hunt into the following week. Beyond that, the number of bears active in the woods is likely to fall drastically as the animals enter their winter hibernation period.

Bear hunts in New Jersey have been controversial since early this century, when they were first authorized by the Fish and Game Council, an independent panel that includes six sportsmen members. The council has authority under the state Constitution to determine what species of fish and animals can be taken within the state's jurisdiction, but the commissioner of environmental protection must also sign off on bear management policies.

Those decisions are based on studies, reports and recommendations from biologists and other experts within the DEP's Division of Fish and Wildlife. In many cases the division publishes management plans and policies to guide the council.

But the hunt has become a political football in New Jersey, with Democratic governors usually banning any harvest and Republicans allowing it. That's resulted in black bear management policies being put in place or canceled depending on whether the DEP commissioner, an appointee of the governor, grants or withholds approval.

When he ran for office in 2017, Murphy, a Democrat, pledged to stop the hunt, but with a management policy already in place, the season continued. Murphy added some restrictions in 2019, banning bear hunting on all state-owned lands, including parks, forests and wildlife management areas.

In 2021, the council approved a new black bear policy, but the DEP commissioner did not sign off and without such a policy in place, no hunt was held.

But black bear-human encounters have more than doubled from 2020 to this year and in late October, Murphy announced that he had "negotiated" a bear hunt for this fall, but with modified rules. Among those rules were a ban on killing bears less than 75 pounds and cubs less than a year old; no taking of adult bears near cubs; and no hunting within 300 feet of bait piles.

The bear season coincides with the traditional six-day shotgun deer season and baiting is allowed for deer, with some restrictions.

At its regular November meeting, which was moved to the State Museum in Trenton to accommodate a bigger public audience, the Fish and Game Council approved an "emergency action" to schedule a hunt for 2022, with the new conditions.

It is how that "emergency" action was taken that the three animal rights groups are challenging.

At the same meeting, the Fish and Game Council also approved an updated, seven-year Comprehensive Black Bear Management Policy. If upheld by the court, that policy will allow the council to set future hunts during that period as well.

This article originally appeared on New Jersey Herald: NJ bear hunt postponed indefinitely until court ruling