Jeers to New Jersey for allowing hunters with bows and arrows and muzzleloader rifles to slaughter 362 black bears during the first segment of its 2026 black bear hunting season. The bloodbath will continue Dec. 7-12 when hunters will be allowed to use shotguns.
The good news is Friends of Animals has helped protect Connecticut black bears and stop a similar massacre from occurring in the state for more than a decade. A bill that would lay the groundwork for a bear hunting season—the first since 1840— passed the Environment Committee in 2013. Thanks to FoA and other members of the CT Coalition to Protect Black Bears, other proposed bear hunts have also been defeated in the state year after year.
Bear hunting in New Jersey resumed in 2022 after it was banned on state land in 2018, despite scientific evidence showing a weak correlation between the population of bears and bear human interactions and. They are more closely related to human behavior, according to the Journal of Wildlife Management.
Rest assured, our work to protect CT’s black bears will continue in 2027. We’ll keep educating the public about the ways they can bear-proof their yard and homes. And by March 1 the first bear-resistant trash can pilot program in Northwestern Litchfield Country will be in place with help from FoA. Such programs have been successful in reducing human-caused bear conflict reports in other states.
Protecting bears from habituation in a densely populated state such as Connecticut is everyone’s call to action!