ACTION NEEDED Please call and e-mail NJ-DEP Commissioner Robert Martin Phone: 609-292-2885 E-mail: commissioner@dep.nj.gov 1. Urge him not to sign the 2015 Comprehensive Black Bear Management Plan, effectively canceling the bear hunt. 2. Ask friends and family to do the same. Share on FB, Twitter, and other social media. 3. Sign this petition; https://www.change.org/p/commissioner-dep-nj-gov-ask-nj-dep-commissioner-to-stop-bear-hunt-recount-public-comments-oversee-biased-njdfw If NJ-DEP Commissioner Martin hasn't signed the Comprehensive Black Bear Management Policy, please continue to make calls on Thursday and Friday. We were told today that thousands of calls are coming into the NJ-DEP. Thank you! 2015 BLACK BEAR COMMENT PERIOD RESULTS On August 11, 2015, the New Jersey Fish and Game Council (FGC) voted to adopt the highly controversial 2015 Comprehensive Black Bear Management Plan (CBBMP). At the same meeting, FGC released the tally of the 60-day comment period, which doesn't add up. There is a thirty-one percent gap between the four percent who support the entire policy and sixty-five percent who oppose the entire policy. B.E.A.R. is demanding that the NJ-DEP Commissioner oversee this rouge agency and not sign off on a plan that expands the hunt in every conceivable way, which shouts out more about the Division of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) providing targets for its hunter-clients than addressing bear complaints and incidences. A conflict of interest? The same hunter-backed agency (DFW) that tabulates all the complaints, also promotes the hunt. DFW’s dangerously clueless approach to black bears is owed, in large part, to who is running it. The Fish and Game Council, six of whose eleven members must represent hunting clubs, “oversees” the DFW and nominates its director. Thanks to everyone who submitted comments. After years of slandering bears, DFW only managed to garner 390 public comments in favor of the CBBMP. A whopping 6,635 were against it. The FGC’s unanimous vote was biased, ignoring the vast majority of public comments. Even without the missing thirty-one percent, the public is clearly against the plan. The vote should have reflected that sentiment. This is why DEP oversight and a recount is necessary. Our educational and activist objectives remain the same - we are working toward permanent black bear protection. http://www.savenjbears.com/ https://www.facebook.com/pages/BEAR-Group/119587498075653 https://twitter.com/SaveNJBears Thank you for your continued support. Kimberly NJ Bear Group Volunteer