Petition: Demand End to Legal Slaughter of Black Bears

The New Jersey Wildlife Division has approved an “emergency” black bear trophy hunt this month. A two-judge panel ruled against a bid by animal rights organizations to stop the hunt. The judges ultimately decided to back the state officials who say that the hunt is needed to “protect the public” from the bear population.

Source: NJ Spotlight News/YouTube

The Department of Environmental Protection immediately declared bear hunting season open and the massacre is set to run for two periods if hunters don’t kill 20 percent of the state’s tagged bears. New Jersey is one of two states that allow hunters to shoot and kill bear cubs.

Bear attacks have not significantly increased; only sightings have. Before the state allowed this horrible slaughter of the animals, they should have exhausted non-lethal options. After a four-day extension, the black bear hunt ended and in total, 114 bears were killed, according to state data. The state’s goal was to slaughter 20 percent of the bear population but in the end, it only killed 7 percent.

“This proposal to kill 20% of New Jersey’s treasured black bears is nothing more than a state-sanctioned slaughter catering to the less than 1% of individuals who want to trophy hunt bears. It is unacceptable in any form,” said New Jersey’s state director for the Humane Society of the United States.

Sign this petition to demand New Jersey ban bear hunting and implement a non-lethal approach to bear management!

To continue speaking up, sign these other petitions as well:

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