Oroho, McHose & Chiusano Call on Governor to Implement New Strategy
Senator Steven Oroho, Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose, and Assemblyman Gary Chiusano, all R-Sussex, Morris, Hunterdon are calling upon the Corzine Administration to adopt scientifically-valid policies in light of a dramatic upswing in bear-related complaints and damage incidents.
“The Governor’s bear management policies are based on little more than a reflexive opposition to hunting, disregard of science and a dose of wishful thinking,” said Oroho. “The numbers compiled by the Division of Fish and Wildlife demonstrate a different approach is adamantly necessary.”
Calls to the DEP about bears are up 96.7 percent from January 1, 2008 to October 22, 2008, when compared with the same time period in 2007. Damage and nuisance complaints have risen from 896 in 2007 to 1845 in 2008.
Perhaps most ominously, ‘Category I’ complaints involving a serious risk to public safety or property damage in excess of $500 have risen over 155 percent.
“Our farmers are being subjected to rising rates of crop damage and livestock slaughter,” stated McHose. “The prospects for a human tragedy have never been greater, as aggressive bears break into homes and garages, yet the response from this administration has been to issue 48 depredation permits and hope for the best.”
“While it is clear that the Governor does not like implementing a controlled hunting season that is based upon scientific data, it is also equally clear that his current policies are an abject failure,” said Chiusano. “Since he has rejected our attempts to implement a reasonable and science-based policy to deal with the escalating bear crisis, it is time for the Governor to announce what he intends to do to protect the safety of the people of northwestern New Jersey, because we are now well past the point of telling people to sprinkle ammonia in their trash cans.”
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