Christie: The bear hunt is necessary and will continue

The New Jersey black bear hunt began Monday with 118 bears already killed in the Garden State. Speaking on NJ 101.5's Ask The Governor program Tuesday, Gov. Chris Christie said the hunt is necessary and will continue.

"There's bears everywhere, it's crazy," the governor said. "This is a really bad problem and we have to get all over it. We're gonna continue to proceed with it. It's based on science. people are out there getting the job done."

Carole Stanko, the acting Chief for the Bureau of Wildlife Management told Nj 101.5 that the hunt is necessary.

“We have one of the most dense black bear populations in the nation, and the most densely human populated state in the nation so there’s a lot of bear-human conflict. We’d like to reduce that both for the safety of the humans in the state, the residents of New Jersey, and for the health of the black bear population,” Stanko said recently.

The hunt is scheduled to last for a week, but may be extended if 20 percent of the bear population has not been reduced by that time.

Last year, 272 bruins were killed during the bear hunt, but this year’s target number is much larger. The bear population is estimated to be 3,500  in New Jersey.

During the show, Christie also had some harsh words for activists who oppose the hunt, which he said will continue. Many activists took to Twitter Tuesday to criticize the Christie administration and the bear hunt.

Toniann Antonelli is the digital managing editor at NJ 101.5. Reach her at toniann.antonelli@townsquaremedia.com, or on Twitter @ToniRadio1015.