Why Does the Regulated Harvest of Black Bears Affect the Rate of Human-Bear Conflicts in New Jersey?

Abstract

Humanity has a miserable track record in conserving large carnivores: from Paleolithic hunters skinning the enormous cave lion 15,000 years ago to the contemporary loss of the marsupial Tasmanian tiger. Today, several iconic members of the order Carnivora are on the brink of extinction (Amur leopards, Asiatic cheetahs), and over 75% of the world's 31 large carnivore species have experienced alarming population declines, often directly from human persecution. Yet, several species of large predators have dramatically rebounded (European gray wolf, American black bear) in the most unlikely of places: heavily human-dominated landscapes. For example, the black bear population in northwestern New Jersey (NJ), the state with the highest human densities in the United States, has exponentially increased over sixfold in just 15 years. During this period of unprecedented suburban sprawl in NJ there have been over 26,500 reported human-bear interactions including seven attacks on humans and one human fatality. Given accelerating anthropogenic landscape transformation, there simply are not enough large tracts of wildlands remaining to alone support expanding bear populations. Thus, American black bear conservation in the Anthropocene may ultimately depend upon society's tolerance for this large carnivore in areas where people live, work, and recreate. In an effort to curb bear population growth and reduce conflicts, the first regulated NJ black bear harvest in over three decades was held in 2003 resulting in an acrimonious public debate. How can objective population ecology help us make informed decisions about management actions that elicit such strong emotional responses among different stakeholder groups?