Protestors arrested as bear hunt comes to a close

Sussex County - The last day of the state’s controversial black bear hunt was much like the first with hunters heading into the forest in the pre-dawn hours to look for the bruins and crowds of angry protesters who oppose the hunt meeting them as they came out. The six-day season began last Monday and ends Saturday evening. Hunters have bagged 267 bruins so far, although final tallies will not be available until Saturday’s hunt is over. State officials say the hunt is needed in order to thin the bears’ numbers, but some oppose the hunt, saying the state hasn’t done enough curb the bruins’ numbers using by other methods. About 100 protesters, chanting slogans like ``Stop killing our bears!’’ and waving signs that read ``Kill the hunt, not the bears,’’ gathered Saturday at Wawayanda State Park. Law enforcement officials restricted the protesters to an area about 150 yards from a check station where hunters brought their dead bears to be weighed and inspected. Six people were arrested during the protest, apparently for moving outside the designated protest area. One of the protesters, Bill Crain, who identified himself as a college professor from Manhattan, said as he was being led away in handcuffs, ``We’re putting our convenience over the bears.’’ Critics of the bear hunt say the state doesn’t have enough information about the bears’ numbers and that holding a hunt may damage the animals’ survival. They also believe the government needs to take greater measures to prevent bears from coming near populated areas in the first place, like forcing residents to use bear-proof garbage containers. ``Unless you take care of the garbage, you can kill half the bears in this park and the other half would still get in our garbage,’’ said Lynda Smith, director of the West Milford-based Bear Education and Resource Group, who was later arrested at the protest. But proponents of the hunt say it is the only way to cull the bears numbers. The state’s last bear hunt was in 2003, when 328 animals were killed. That was the first bear season since 1970, after which hunts were suspended because the black bear population was dangerously low. Today, officials estimate the population at 1,600 to 3,200, and bears have been spotted not just in the woody northwest but all over the state. Hunters and state officials say the hunt is needed because bears have been spotted in people’s backyards, or breaking into houses and cars.