Humane Society calls on Corzine to change bear shooting policy

AP - Following the shooting of two black bears that wandered into heavily populated communities during the past week, the national Humane Society has called on Gov. Jon S. Corzine to change a state policy that allows the killing of bears found in urban areas. ``There is no need to euthanize a bear, regardless of its location, unless it has been implicated in an unprovoked attack on a human,’’ Lauren Nolfo-Clements, a wildlife scientist with the Washington, D.C.-based Humane Society, wrote to Corzine on Thursday. A day earlier, police killed a 300-pound bear cornered in a small backyard in Irvington. Officers said the bear reared up and appeared ready to charge them. Wednesday’s bear shooting came only days after a 225-pound bear was caught in downtown Trenton, prompting state biologists to kill it. It was the first time a bear had been killed as part of the state’s no-tolerance policy on bears found in densely populated areas. Animal rights groups, environmentalists, hunting organizations and even some state wildlife authorities have questioned the policy, but Corzine’s spokesman said the governor supports it.