Lesniak to Speak In Favor of Cancelling Bear Hunt

TRENTON – Senator Raymond Lesniak will attend tomorrow’s meeting of the New Jersey Fish and Game Council to speak in favor of cancelling the state-sanctioned bear hunt scheduled for October and to implement non-lethal actions to control the state’s bear population.

Senator Lesniak is the sponsor of legislation that would prohibit bear hunting for a period of five years and require the Division of Fish and Wildlife to implement a non-lethal population control program for bears.  The bill, S-2702, is known as “Pedals’ Law,” named for the highly-recognizable bear that walked on its hind legs that was killed by hunters last year.

“These open seasons that allow for the widespread killing of bears is an inhumane and ineffective way of preventing dangerous interactions between bears and humans,” said Senator Lesniak. “There are non-lethal ways to control the bear population without resorting to guns or bow-and-arrows.”

Senator Lesniak’s bill would make residential communities and campgrounds safer from bear intrusions by requiring the use of bear resistant containers for discarded or stored food products in communities located in bear habitats. The plan would prohibit feeding, depositing, or distributing any edible material that would result in attracting or enticing bears in the bear habitats. The legislation would also ban intentional baiting practices in the same areas.