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New Jersey Fatal Bear Attack Shines Spotlight on Maine Referendum

The fatal bear attack of a hiker in New Jersey this week is highlighting that state's bear management policies - and drawing comparisons with Maine's. This fall, voters here are being asked in a statewide referendum to end the use of bait, hounds and traps in Maine's annual bear hunt.

 

It happened on a preserve about 50 miles from New York City. Darsh Patel, a 22-year-old senior at Rutgers University, was hiking with a group of friends when they encountered a 300-pound black bear. The bear chased them and killed Patel after he became separated from the group.

Such attacks are extremely rare. This is New Jersey's first in 150 years. Maine has no similar documented fatalities. And Katie Hansberry, of the group "Mainers for Fair Bear Hunting," says her group wants to keep it that way.

"We want policies in place that are going to minimize the already low risk of a run-in," she says. "Like Maine, New Jersey allows baiting, and that's the dumping of junk food into the woods. And what that does is conditions bears to human foods and smells, and that makes encounters more likely."

Maine wildlife officials say their research shows that bears prefer natural food to bait, which typically includes pastries and other sweets. But Hansberry and her group say the use of bait is just plain wrong.  They also want hunters to stop using hounds and snare traps, which they consider inhumane and unsporting.

Despite similar opposition, New Jersey revived its bear hunt, with the use of bait, in 2010. Before that, Judy Camuso, of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, says nuisance bear complaints in New Jersey, especially those considered "serious," reached a tipping point.

"In 2008, they had over 108 of what they call 'home invasions,' which are bears that enter homes while there are people in them," she says. "Since then, those level of complaints have come down significantly, I think by almost close to 50 percent."

Camuso says Maine has the largest population of black bears on the East Coast, and one of the smallest numbers of reported nuisance complaints. She attributes this to a strong bear management plan that relies on all three hunting methods.

Still, Camuso points out that Maine bear hunters are only successful 25 percent of the time. And they fall short of killing 4,000 bears each year. That's the target biologists have set to keep the population in check. Without the three options, Camuso fears the state will lose control and see an increase in bear nuisance complaints, as New Jersey did before hunting with bait was allowed.