With bear sightings on the rise in South Jersey, state sets a one-week hunting season

In June, the appearance of a large black bear in lower Camden County prompted the lockdown of an elementary school.

Officials were not concerned that students at Waterford Township's Thomas Richards Elementary School were in actual danger, but they took the step as a precaution.

The bear has not been seen in the area since, though its foray through backyards in the township prompted Waterford police to post on their website a link to the state Division of Fish and Wildlife's "Bear Facts" page.

Bears, absent from South Jersey since the 19th century, have been back for a few years, after the relatively recent appearance of coyotes, a nonnative species that has spread throughout the state to fill the vacuum created by the disappearance of wolves more than 200 years ago.

The population has rebounded to such a level that for the third year in a row - despite the opposition of activists - the state has authorized a one-week bear-hunting season, to begin Monday. Hunts also were held in 2003 and 2005, after a three-decade hiatus.

The hunt is limited to a 1,000-square-mile area in the state's northwest corner and those boundaries are unlikely to be extended anytime soon, if at all.

Since the Waterford incident, bear sightings have been reported in Springfield and Woodland Townships in Burlington County and in Vineland and Millville in Cumberland County.

On Oct. 7, a bear - possibly the one from Waterford - was spotted along the Mullica River Trail in Shamong Township.

State wildlife officials have no estimates as to how many bears are in South Jersey.

"The population is too sparse to effectively survey them," said Larry Herrighty, the Division of Fish and Wildlife's assistant director of operations. Plus, he said, the cost to do so would be prohibitive because of the area involved.

But there have been reports of sightings of cubs and sows, indicating breeding is going on in South Jersey, Herrighty said.

The first few bears spotted in South Jersey about decade ago were believed to be males, pushed out of the northwest part of the state by population pressure and following waterways to more open space.

"It takes the sows a few years to follow," Herrighty said.

Each sighting should not be counted as a different bear, he said.

Herrighty cited one bear that was trapped and released with a radio collar in Hunterdon County. The animal made its way to Pennsylvania before returning to Warren County.

"Some of these bears can really roam," Herrighty said.

The division released a report last week that said since the state's five-year Comprehensive Black Bear Management Policy went into effect in 2010, the bear population in the northwestern part of the state had fallen to between 2,800 and 3,000 from an estimated 3,400.

Through the end of October, bear sightings this year are down 34 percent, nuisance complaints have fallen 26 percent, and the number of dangerous bear incident calls have dropped 43 percent compared with the same period last year, the report said.

The plan calls for an annual hunt for two more years, after which state experts will review whether it needs to be continued, modified, or suspended.

Besides the hunt, the management policy includes education programs to reduce bear-human encounters and property damage, including ways to keep trash away from the animals.

More than 6,500 bear-hunting permits have been issued for this week's hunt, to end Saturday. Last year, the state issued 9,000 permits, and hunters killed 469 bears.