Beware of black bear in South Jersey

There has been a little bit of buzz among neighbors and on social media around a black bear hanging around a part of Burlington County.

My neighbor shared a picture from a friend of his in Tabernacle who keeps spotting a black bear in his backyard. Now folks on the Next-Door app are talking about a black bear spotted three nights in a row near the Red Lion Circle.

That's right across from the Red Lion Diner and right up the road from the nice little village of Vincentown, and not too far from Medford where I live.

Many of the comments online tell people not to worry and just make sure you secure your trash cans. Generally, black bears are not a threat to humans, but they have attacked a couple of people here in New Jersey in the past two years.

Earlier this year a woman in Lafayette, Sussex County was attacked by one while checking her mail.

Two years ago an elderly man was attacked by a black bear in his own garage in West Milford in North Jersey.

With the retirement community Leisuretowne not far from the recent sightings, folks there should be careful.

Also don't forget the 22-year-old Rutgers student that was killed by a black bear while on a hike in 2014 in West Milford. He took a photo of the bear before it killed him, probably thinking black bears don't attack humans.

More and more, for whatever reason, they have, and bear encounters are up sharply this year.

Black bears are not very common in South Jersey, but in the past few years there has been a surprising number of sightings much further south in the state than most people thought possible.

It's obvious that the population is growing and moving, but don't count on the bear hunt to stem the tide. The Murphy Administration halted the bear hunt last year.

That was about a year after a world record 700-pound black bear was harvested by a bowhunter in New Jersey. Would you take a chance thinking black bears don't attack humans? Be careful.

It's obvious those animal activists that got the Governor to stop the bear hunt care more about the bears' lives than yours.

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

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