2nd bear attack in NJ is just the beginning (Opinion)

When an elderly woman was attacked and her dog killed by a bear in Sparta earlier this month, I wrote an article about the blood being on Gov. Murphy‘s hands. Now there’s even more of it.

And it’s a simple matter of math. When the governor stops controlling the bear population through hunting, the population is going to increase exponentially. When it does (and it already is) bears spread out more because they need a lot of land to sustain themselves.

This means more bears go into more populated regions and then lose their fear of humans.

That’s when they begin standing their ground more. That’s when they begin the aggression.

So yes, I absolutely say Murphy has even more blood on his hands this week with the mauling death of another dog in the same town not far from last month’s earlier incident.

Bill Pierce tells authorities he let his 5-year-old Yorkie named Tommy out into his backyard at 10 p.m. Wednesday. When the dog did not come back to the door as usual he went out to investigate.

He found bear tracks and blood leading to the woodline where next he found Tommy mortally wounded. The mauling could be the work of the same 400-pound black bear that attacked the elderly woman and killed one of her dogs who lives not very far away.

In fact, Pierce says his property borders the property where the first attack took place on Jan. 3.

Pierce tried to save his dog, bringing it to a vet. He told NJ.com, “The injuries were severe. Tommy had been clawed badly and you could see where the skin was coming through the fur.”

New Jersey officials already said that a 400-pound black bear involved in the attack on the 81-year-old woman would be euthanized if found. But it never was. In this latest incident, a police officer followed the bear tracks into the woods but didn’t locate a bear. This aggression has to have Sparta residents concerned.

But there’s a bigger problem here. The problem is a misguided governor who refuses to listen to his own wildlife experts and stubbornly will not follow the science. Every year we go without a bear hunt is another year closer to the time when what is happening in Sparta will be happening in much more of New Jersey.

And it’s not only going to be dogs.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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