New Jersey Bears

No they're not a sports franchise, they're wild animals and considered nuisances and dangerous to property owners in NW New Jersey. They raid trash cans, try to enter houses, and kill pets and livestock.

USA TODAY reports that, in response to citizen complaints, the New Jersey Fish and Game Council has approved the issuance of hunting permits for the first time in 33 years. Numbering 10,000, the permits will be valid during a special bear hunting season from December 8 through 13 this year.

Support for the hunt is strong but critics "suggest that more could be done to teach residents how to live with the animals . . . ."

There seems to be an underlying assumption that the bears are not the problem. People are the problem because they've been inadequately taught to live in harmony with large, hungry, omnivorous wild animals.

There also seems to be an assumption that people would want to live in harmony with the beasts. Well, excuse me. I don't and I don't want to be taught how. Personally, I think that people who want to spend their time with bears should learn to shit sleep in the woods.