Bear Hunt Opponents Headed To Court Over Protests

Animal rights advocates will head to court to seek permission to stage daily protests during New Jersey's six-day bear hunt, which gets under way Monday.
Doris Lin, an attorney who represents the Animal Protection
League of New Jersey and similar groups, said a state Department of
Environmental Protection official had given them verbal approval to
protest at the Franklin (Sussex County) bear check station.

But Lin says the DEP denied their request late Friday afternoon,
instead offering two alternate sites that the groups declined
because they offered "much less visibility" than the check
station. The activists also want to be at the station so they can
document how man bears are killed by hunters.

DEP spokesman Larry Ragonese said Sunday that the agency never
agreed to the groups' request. He said safety concerns spurred the
decision to keep protesters from the check station, noting its
limited space and location on a major highway.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)