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http://www.newsday.com/news/local/w...ec25,0,7442552.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire
Guess who never heard of Treadwells disease?
State says activists wrong to tend to injured bear
December 25, 2003, 5:50 PM EST
TRENTON, N.J. -- New Jersey wildlife officials said charges may be filed against activists who are attempting to rehabilitate a female bear wounded in this month's bear hunt.
The anti-hunt activists need a license to handle a bear, said Amy Cradic, spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Protection.
She said "enforcement action will be taken" if officials determine that the group is feeding or handling the bear.
Group members who wish to remain anonymous admit they are feeding and medicating the bear without the needed licenses, according to a report Wednesday in The Star-Ledger of Newark.
"The state is saying that killing and maiming a bear is right and that being compassionate to a wounded animal is wrong," Angi Metler, who is director of the New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance, told the newspaper. "When did things stop making sense?"
The state's first hunt in 33 years ended Dec. 13 after six days. There were 328 confirmed kills, the state Division of Fish and Wildlife said. Of that number, 119 were males and 209 were females.
The wounded bear, a 2-year-old female of 150 to 200 pounds, was spotted by a woman in a tree in a northern New Jersey backyard less than a day after the hunt ended, Metler said.
It stayed there, and the woman noticed blood at the base of the tree and a wound to a rear leg. State regulations require hunters who wound a bear to track the animal and kill it.
After speaking to veterinarians, the anti-hunt group gave the bear antibiotics in food each day, and the two-week treatment is to end this weekend, Metlar said.
The bear "responded very well to medicine mixed with peanut butter, high-fat muffins and maple syrup," she said.
Now the bear will associate humans with food and become a menace and will have to be shot.
Guess who never heard of Treadwells disease?
State says activists wrong to tend to injured bear
December 25, 2003, 5:50 PM EST
TRENTON, N.J. -- New Jersey wildlife officials said charges may be filed against activists who are attempting to rehabilitate a female bear wounded in this month's bear hunt.
The anti-hunt activists need a license to handle a bear, said Amy Cradic, spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Protection.
She said "enforcement action will be taken" if officials determine that the group is feeding or handling the bear.
Group members who wish to remain anonymous admit they are feeding and medicating the bear without the needed licenses, according to a report Wednesday in The Star-Ledger of Newark.
"The state is saying that killing and maiming a bear is right and that being compassionate to a wounded animal is wrong," Angi Metler, who is director of the New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance, told the newspaper. "When did things stop making sense?"
The state's first hunt in 33 years ended Dec. 13 after six days. There were 328 confirmed kills, the state Division of Fish and Wildlife said. Of that number, 119 were males and 209 were females.
The wounded bear, a 2-year-old female of 150 to 200 pounds, was spotted by a woman in a tree in a northern New Jersey backyard less than a day after the hunt ended, Metler said.
It stayed there, and the woman noticed blood at the base of the tree and a wound to a rear leg. State regulations require hunters who wound a bear to track the animal and kill it.
After speaking to veterinarians, the anti-hunt group gave the bear antibiotics in food each day, and the two-week treatment is to end this weekend, Metlar said.
The bear "responded very well to medicine mixed with peanut butter, high-fat muffins and maple syrup," she said.
Now the bear will associate humans with food and become a menace and will have to be shot.
grampster