472 bears killed across N.J.; officials opt to extend annual hunt

Department of Environmental Protection officials say not enough "tagged" bears were killed to effectively reduce the potential for conflicts with people Watch video

FREDON - Another 51 bears were killed across northern New Jersey Saturday, though state officials say they will extend the state's annual hunt in hopes of further thinning their ranks. 

The latest figures, released by the Department of Environmental Protection on Sunday, bring the six-day total of bears killed to 472. 

Though that number is considerably higher than last year's count of 272, officials said the animals' dense population called for the hunt to be extended another four days, beginning Wednesday morning and ending at sunset Dec. 20.

"With the four-day extension, we will reach a harvest number that will keep the black bear population healthy and sustainable, while reducing the potential for conflicts with people," Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin said in a statement.

MORE: Bear hunt 2015: Compromise unlikely between protesters and hunters

Only 24 of 133 bears "tagged" by DEP employees have been shot and killed this year - a ratio of 18 percent. Because the ratio came in at under 20 percent, new game code regulations adopted by the state earlier this year allow for the hunt to be extended.

The vast majority of bears killed this year have been in Sussex and Warren counties, though hunters also took down animals in Passaic, Bergen, Morris and Hunterdon counties.

Bears were also allowed to be hunted in Somerset and Mercer counties, though no kills had been recorded there as of Saturday night.

Reintroduced in New Jersey in 2010, the annual hunt is meant to reduce large black bear populations. Environmental groups and animal-rights activists have protested, however, saying killing the animals is neither humane nor an effective long-term solution.

In the hours after the state's announcement about the extension Sunday, the New Jersey Sierra Club issued a press release denouncing the decision. Club President Jeff Titel said he believed the hunt was primarily about sport, and would have little effect on interactions between bears and humans unless additional steps were taken.

"We don't have an education plan, we don't have garbage management, and we don't have the conservation officers needed to implement these things. All we have is more dead bears and the same nuisance problems as before," he said.