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Brian: "Hey, bear." That's what you're supposed to yell when you encounter an aggressive bear or to prevent a bear that you think might be in your vicinity from coming at you. I'm sure quite a few of you New Jerseyans out there are getting familiar with bear safety tips as the stats are that there's been a 237% increase in bear encounters this year. To combat the growing bear population and those encounters with their threats, Governor Murphy has announced plans to reinstate a regulated bear hunt. The hunt was originally planned to begin yesterday, but its future is currently on hold after an appellate court judge issued an emergency stay.

Sounds like a bear fight. Listeners, we want to hear your bear encounter stories and if you support the hunt, 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. Any big furry scary neighbors snooping around your property lately? 212-433-9692 or tweet @BrianLehrer. With us to talk about these issues and the proposed bear hunt is Tennyson Donyéa, New Jersey State House reporter at WHYY, which is, of course, the public radio station in Philadelphia. Tennyson, thanks for coming on. Welcome to WNYC.

Tennyson: Thanks for having me.

Brian: How did a bear hunt get put on the table? But let me back up even a step before. Did there used to be a bear hunt, and then it got banned?

Tennyson: Yes, we've had bear hunts in New Jersey if you look at the last two decades. It's been a political issue with many Democratic administrations doing away with the bear hunt. You saw it brought back under the Chris Christie administration. Governor Phil Murphy, our current governor, who's in his second term, campaigned the first go around with a promise to end the practice if he was elected, and this was a promise that he made to environmentalist and animal rights groups. It was a promise that he was able to keep during his first term.

Brian: Now, he says the bear hunt should come back, and because of what? It's one thing to laugh about creatures snooping around your property. It's another thing if people or pets or anyone or anything is really getting hurt. What's happening with the bears that are causing the governor who originally banned the bear hunt to want to bring it back?

Tennyson: There were reports a few months ago that someone was attacked by a bear and that received fairly decent coverage, even national news coverage. Someone who was out checking their mail. We actually had Governor Murphy on Ask Governor Murphy with Nancy Solomon a few months ago. One of our listeners reached out to us and I usually ask the governor questions from folks on social media, they were worried about this. They've heard a lot of reports of increased bear sightings, and actually, the Murphy administration, the Department of Environmental Protection, have cited a 237% increase in reported bear incidents. That is what Governor Murphy is using as his metric for reinstating this.

Brian: We have a lot of callers who oppose the bear hunt calling in. Let's take one right now. Here is Mary Catherine in Andover. You're on WNYC. Hi, Mary Catherine.

Mary: Hi, I listen to you all the time. Thank you so much for taking my call. I just wanted to chime in that I'm an opponent of the bear hunt. I think that they really do need to work on other alternatives, and I just think about how many people are murdered in this state every day. The threat of bears is just not even comparable.

Brian: Mary Catherine, thank you very much. Beware of the humans. Luke in Branchville, you're on WNYC. Hi, Luke.

Luke: Hi, Brian. I just wanted to chime in and let you know that I actually live in bear country over near Stokes State Forest. I have two young children, we had the bears come through multiple times, and just beautiful animals, very harmless. Almost like big cats in the sense where if you just clap your hands, they actually just run. We enjoy watching them, and then if they over welcome their stay a little too long, then we clap our hands and they usually just run off into the woods.

Brian: Luke, thank you very much. I think a lot of these calls are going to say similar things. Casey in Hamburg, you're on WNYC. Hi, Casey.

Casey: Hi, I was just going to say, I'm up in Sussex County and we see bears all the time as well, and often see them walking to and from the school, dropping my daughter off. They're pretty harmless. The scariest encounter I had with a bear was when I watched a cop shoot one down. I don't really know why. I experienced this day and I have a small daughter and we've been out in the backyard and seen bears and they seem to not really pay any attention to us. I wouldn't say I'm opposed to the bear hunt though because I'm nearly neutral on that. [chuckles]

Brian: Casey, thank you very much. Here's a caller who supports the bear hunt. Mike in Lake Hopatcong. Hi, Mike, you're on WNYC.

Mike: Hello, Brian. Yes, I support the bear hunt. Like also with a lot of deers, you just can see them all spread out over the highways, causing a lot of damage to cars. Also, they're dragging the garbage through every neighborhood here. You got to pick up everybody's garbage in the mornings. It's the trash. I think we should have some more of a plan-- [crosstalk]

Brian: Some of the other callers might say, "Does that warrant the death penalty?"

Mike: I know about that, but there's things we need to have more control on everything here.

Brian: Mike, thank you very much. Tennyson, how much does the set of callers that we just heard from, a couple explicitly opposed, even though they come in contact with bears, one who comes in contact with bears, who's not sure, and then our last caller who's in support of the bear hunt because of the nuisance factor at very least. How representative is that of the conversation that's taking place in the state right now?

Tennyson: The Fish and Game Council had a meeting to approve or to decide to approve, which they did, the emergency conditions to reinstate the bear hunt a few weeks ago. There were several, I can't count how many people gave public comment at this meeting. I would say an overwhelming majority, maybe upwards of 85% to 90% of the folks who spoke were opponents of the bear hunt. A lot of folks from environmental groups and animal rights groups and animal protection groups.

Now, I don't know if that's enough empirical data to really say this is how the state feels about it or representative of everyone in the state, but I will say that there have been a lot of people who oppose this, who feel a bit blindsided by this. Again, Governor Murphy made a promise to look into non-lethal methods. As a matter of fact, when we spoke to him on Ask Governor Murphy, back in August, I believe it was, he talked about how Connecticut hadn't had a bear hunt in a long time, and that non-lethal method worked, but that he was monitoring the situation closely.

One thing that I did want to mention that many of the opponents have talked about is that there really isn't an emergency in their mind. The increase in reported incidents don't necessarily mean that the population has grown. Some of my former colleagues at nj.com actually published a report today that looks at how the state actually tracks the back bear population. A lot of that is done using historical data. It's really hard to know for sure without a hunt actually according to the process that is used. A lot of the opponents want to see more non-lethal methods like education and awareness and putting out non-resistant trash cans. A big way that bears even stumble into our towns is they smell garbage and maybe they're hungry and they're looking for things. There's also folks talking about bird feeders and maybe not leaving those out. This report from nj.com found that most of the incidents that are reported are not major incidents. Fatal human interactions are rare, so are non-fatal human interactions and even attacks on dogs and pets are still unusual. That's what evidence opponents-- [crosstalk]

Brian: I guess a question for policymakers is how many fatal or injurious contacts with humans do there have to be in order to want to reduce the bear population through a hunt on public safety grounds? You mentioned people not necessarily believing the estimates of the increased bear population. I think Jenny in Rahway is one of those skeptics. Jenny are on WNYC. Hello.

Jenny: Hi, let me tell you that recently, earlier this year, there was this fighting a bear siding in Linden near the tracks, then in railway with so many people having cell phones. There is not one picture, not one video, not one ring, nothing. From what I've heard from my gun-owning hunting liking friends, they think that it's probably just people trying to get the word out to get a hunt. It makes perfect sense. Now, we have a lot of deer around here, hardly any collisions here. We do see a lot of collisions in the highways, but the bear, I've never seen one. I've heard of it, there's no proof and I don't buy it.

Brian: Jenny, thank you very much. What about this conspiracy theory, theory that this is really the hunters who just want their bear season ginning up reports of sightings and then they get reported as statistics? Is that possible?

Tennyson: I think that, again, it's been very difficult to really track how many bears are in the state. I think that the DEP has projected that there are about 3,000 bears in New Jersey and that it could grow to 4,000 before 2024, I believe. Some folks say, "Look, we need more reliable tracking methods before we--"

Brian: Take that jump.

Tennyson: Exactly. [crosstalk]

Brian: Is there a deer hunting season? Because I have a few callers and Jenny there in Rahway was one. There are few other people are also trying to make the point that, "No, it's the deers who we keep having encounter with. The deer that cars crash into, et cetera, et cetera." Is there a deer hunting season in New Jersey?

Tennyson: There is. It's not too long, but it depends on who you're talking about and how are you tilling the deer, essentially.

Brian: When will Governor Murphy-- oh, I guess it's up to the court, right? When will the court make a final determination? We have 10 seconds.

Tennyson: We don't know right now. I've tried to track that down. I've asked some folks who are involved and a lot of that's going to be determined by the court and so things are on hold until the court makes a decision. It's coming any time.

Brian: Tennyson Donyéa, New Jersey State House Reporter at WHYY. Thanks a lot.

Tennyson: Thank you for having me.

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