TRENTON – New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Acting Commissioner Bob Martin today approved the New Jersey Fish and Game Council\’s 2010 Comprehensive Black Bear Management Policy.

\”The Council incorporated the latest research and science into its proposed black bear management policy that shows the population is sustainable and growing,\” Acting Commissioner Martin said. \”This growth coincides with an increase in serious bear incidents supporting the need for population control in addition to continued nonlethal management tools including public education and outreach.\” 

photo: black bear damage

The DEP also supports legislation that would increase penalties for people who feed black bears and draw the animals into populated areas.

The most recent black bear population estimate for the portion of New Jersey north of I-80 is approximately 3,400 based on a 2009 DNA study by East Stroudsburg University. The bear population in this area has increased to its current level from an estimate of 500 bears in 1992.

I further find it amazing that the people whom write for the Gloucester City News still do not know how to use the words \”Then and Than\”.

Read this week\’s \”Bell of St Mary Dedicated In 1888\”,paragraph 3.

We still look like uneducated cretins to the outside world.

Mike Grello, Gloucester City