Letters to the editor—

One of the most powerful ways
to give a voice to our black bears

Talking points

1. •The only proven and effective way to manage black bears is through proper garbage storage—and this is also the LAW. (NJSA 23:2A14. The Black Bear Feeding Ban makes it illegal to feed bears, intentionally or inadvertently through improper garbage storage.)
   

2. •The pro-hunting NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife has been breaking this law by not enforcing garbage control. They have sabotaged non-lethal bear management through their deliberate negligence, and have laid the  groundwork for a 2010 bear hunt.
   

3. •Hunting does not address nuisance concerns.
   (States with bear hunts experience rising complaints. A report by Dr. Edward Tavss, a Rutgers scientist, proves this. For a synopsis of his study in his own words, click here. For his complete study, click here.)
   

4. •Public education, garbage control and aversive conditioning are the best means to address concerns about bears.
   

5. •Hunting will never teach people how to live responsibly in bear country. Only education can do that.
   

6. •The majority of NJ residents oppose black bear hunting.
   

7. •With roughly 2.2 million people living in bear country, a few hundred complaints is very low, especially when they are mostly related to garbage issues. Most people are living among bears in harmony.
   

8. •Bear hunts are recreational trophy hunts being sold as public safety. Don't buy it. The top issues affecting New Jersey are wages, property tax, health care, war, education, corruption, homeland security, economy, and the environment.
   

9. •The Division of Fish and Wildlife should not be moving bears all over the state, especially in areas where bears do not usually frequent. They do this to induce fear and get support for a bear hunt.
   

10. •Hunters bait bears, bringing them into residential neighborhoods, which raise the complaints. Baiting any animal in bear country is a bad idea.
    

Contact information for some major New Jersey newspapers

Please include your name, address and phone number for verification purposes.

Asbury Park Press: yourviews@app.com
Atlantic City Press: letters@pressofac.com
Bergen Record: lettertotheeditor@northjersey.com
Bridgeton News: mgray@sjnewsco.com
Burlington County Times: http://tinyurl.com/bkgph
Courier News: krycewicz@mycentraljersey.com
Courier Post: cpedit@courierpostonline.com
Daily Journal: djopinion@thedailyjournal.com
Daily Record: letters@dailyrecord.com
Gloucester County Times: egoldberg@sjnewsco.com
Home News Tribune: letters@thnt.com
Jersey Journal: jjletters@aol.com
New Jersey Herald: newsroom@njherald.com
Ocean County Observer: hfitzsimmons@app.com
Star Ledger: eletters@starledger.com
Today's Sunbeam: tsnews@sjnewsco.com
Trenton Times: letters@njtimes.com
Trentonian: letters@trentonian.com
Express Times: letters@express-times.com
Philadelphia Inquirer: sjvoices@phillynews.com