The Finley: Why Won’t Governor Phil Murphy Cancel The New Jersey Bear Hunt?
Angi Metler and Doreen Frega of the Animal Protection League of New Jersey talk about the campaign to persuade Gov. Phil Murphy to stop this trophy hunt.
The Finley is The Monroe Gazette’s listener supported podcast, covering New York State politics, local news, and more. Subscribe with your favorite podcast player by clicking or tapping here.
Key Takeaways From This Week’s Episode
The Bear hunt is contested: The Animal Protection League of New Jersey and other activists argue New Jersey’s annual bear hunt is a trophy hunt, not a population-control measure. The APL has repeatedly pressured governors to stop it via executive action and public outreach.
Human behavior drives human-bear conflict: Securing garbage, removing bird feeders and fallen fruit, using bear‑resistant containers, and practicing aversive conditioning are the primary, effective ways to reduce bear encounters. Additional information can be found on the APL’s website here.
Public opposition and outreach matter: Many New Jersey residents oppose the hunt; grassroots education, tabling, billboards and protests aim to maintain public awareness and political pressure.
Short, regulated seasons but risk of expansion: Current seasons are limited (brief periods in October and December), but activists warn the Division of Fish and Wildlife has pushed for longer seasons in the past, often for their own purposes and not to the benefit of New Jersey residents, including the bears.
The Finley Episode #6 Full Transcript
BJ Mendelson: Hello and welcome to another edition of The Finley. This is a listener supported podcast created by the Monroe Gazette covering New York state politics and beyond. I’m your host, BJ Mendelson. As a lot of you know, most of Southern Orange County shares a border with Sussex County, New Jersey.
So occasionally there’s a story going on over there that I think may be of interest to officers. Specifically the annual bear hunt that’s held in Sussex County. Governor Phil Murphy is still in office until January 20th, 2026. And he’s being asked by the Animal Protection League of Northern New Jersey to use his executive authority to outlaw the bear hunt. Something Phil Murphy campaigned on twice. So with us today is Doreen Frigga and Angie Mettler.
Ms. Metler is the executive director of the New Jersey Animal Protection League, and Mrs. Frega is the special projects director. Both of them joined us to talk about whether or not bears pose danger to our region’s community, how to safely keep them away, and how Governor Phil Murphy can air the bear hunt once and for all.
The Interview
(Reader note: The following transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.)
BJ Mendelson: Would you both be so kind as to introduce yourselves and tell us what you do?
Angie Metler: Sure. Doreen.
Doreen Frega: Doreen Frege, Special Projects Director with Animal Protection League and Bear Group.
Metler: I’m Angie Metler, I’m the executive director of the Animal Protection League of New Jersey, also with the bear group and also on our wildlife mitigation team.
Mendelson: And could you tell us just a bit more about the animal protection league?
Metler: The Animal Protection League is a nonprofit organization that was formed in 1983 to put solutions out there for any kind of wildlife conflicts and to educate the public about simple things that they can do to improve the lives of animals in New Jersey.
Mendelson: And I’ve also seen you both do advocacy work also in Southern Orange County. Is that right?
Metler: Yes.
Mendelson: For our listeners, I first came across Doreen, I think you were the one that spoke to the village of Monroe about the geese, is that right?
Frega: Yes, correct. How are the geese up there?
Mendelson: I was really happy with the results of you going to speak with the village. There are still geese. They [the village] have implemented some of the mitigation strategies, as opposed to doing anything lethal, which is what they had done in the past. So I think that your advocacy was a great help in that.
Frega: That’s good. I’m glad that they’re safe because I know the mayor was using flock free, which he was very happy about. And they were starting to do some habitat modification. So I’m glad it’s still working out. I know I contacted him over the summer to make sure everything was still good around June time frame. And yeah, everything was fine.
Mendelson: That’s awesome.
Metler: You know, it’s interesting because it’s never been about if there’s too many geese. It’s always about what we do to attract them.
Mendelson: Yes.
Metler: You know. And with the bears.
Mendelson: I think that’s a good segue to just explain for our listeners. So, you know, depending on where you live in Southern Orange County, you might share a border with Sussex County, New Jersey. So I was hoping we could talk a little bit about bear hunts in general, and if there’s anything specific about Sussex that you might want to flag.
Metler: Well I live in Sussex County in the heart of bear country. There are several other counties though that you could call bear country. Bears tend to live in beautiful forested areas and those forested areas tend to be quite healthy because of the bears. They eat 10 caterpillars, their scat contains all kinds of nutrients for the soil. They’re just good neighbors, you know, and they’re pretty safe.
I’ve lived up here for more than two decades and I’ve seen bears, you know, accidentally, I walk outside of my house, they’re on the other side of my car and they run from me because they are afraid of me. And they have had millions of years of, being fearful, running up trees. That’s how they survive. That’s how other mammals that were quite larger than them didn’t survive, because they had that ability to run and to climb trees. And I see that. I see them leaving their young up the tree and then them going out foraging. It’s really an honor and a privilege to live in bear country. So I take that responsibility seriously. I do not attract them to my property. I do not feed them. And I use responsible things like a bear-resistant can. I don’t have bird feeders. This way, bears that I might see a walking way behind my house in the forest. My home borders Wawayanda State Park. So I do see them occasionally. I don’t see as many as we used to, which is unfortunate, but getting back to your original question about in general this bear hunt, and any bear hunt, is a trophy hunt. It’s not about reducing the population because that’s that’s frankly an insult to our intelligence because the Fish and Wildlife Agency counts the number of cubs that are born in January and February. And as long as the population that they kill is smaller than the ones that are recruited as newly born, they call that a bear hunt.
That is not a reduction in the population. And I’m not suggesting that they should reduce the population. Like other species, it is our responsibility not to attract them, not to encourage them to come near our property. Bears are easily educated. Once they learn they could not get into my can, they don’t come back to my can. Once they see I don’t have bird feeders, they’re not going to come onto my property. And when they do cross the property … It’s usually to get to someone else’s garbage can. So I think the number one problem in bear country is garbage. People not securing it properly. And the dirty little secret about that is that people like seeing bears.
Mendelson: It’s true. I hear that a lot from people. My family moved up here about 40 years ago from the city. And the thing that you hear consistently from people who have come up from New York City or Long Island is they like the wildlife. They like to see them.
Metler: Yeah. And it’s living among nature, not living to destroy it. Because when you kill a bear, it’s very easy for their population to crash. In 1970, when the Division of Fish and Wildlife stopped the bear hunt, then after 12 years of hunting, they stopped it because there were zero bears left. They will kill every single one of them, and they’ve done it in the past. So they do not care about population crashing if that occurs. Their answer to that question is that we’ll grow them back.
Mendelson: Just for context purposes for what we’re talking about today. So there was a point in New Jersey’s history where they stopped the bear hunt, they’ve resumed it, and now you’re calling on them to stop it again.
Metler: Yeah, we’re the only state, I think, in the country that has stopped more than 10 bear hunts from occurring. Back in 1970, the Division of Fish and Wildlife stopped it because they had no more bears left. They wanted to restart it in 1988 when their own numbers suggested there were 150 bears living in New Jersey. So the public recoiled. They didn’t do it.
They tried again in 1997, the public recoiled. They couldn’t do it. And then Governor Whitman in 2000 stopped the bear hunt from moving forward when they were going to move forward. She stopped it for three years. Then unfortunately, Governor McGreevey was given misinformation. He did initially promise to end the bear hunt, but he started it and two days into it, he wanted it to end, but they wouldn’t stop it.
So he did stop the 2004. So it’s been going back. It bounces back and forth. But I do have to give kudos to governors who have stopped it. Governor Whitman, a Republican. Governor McGreevey did eventually stop it. He’s a Democrat. And Governor Corzine, he stopped it for four years. And that was...
You know, it’s a pretty safe bet. You know, the only tragedy that happened in New Jersey with a black bear occurred after five years or four years of hunting them. So the solution is not to kill the bears. That’s like shooting into a crowd to avoid crime.And bears do not commit crimes. What they do is they live naturally as nature intended.
Mendelson: Right, and I saw the statistics on the website, but I just want to share a few of these with our listeners. So, you’re 45 times more likely to be killed by a dog than a bear. 247 times more likely to be killed by a lightning. 100, this is my favorite, 120 times more likely to be killed by a bee; and then 60,000 times more likely to be murdered by another human being than killed by a black bear, is that right?
Metler: That’s correct. Those statistics came right from Dr. Len Rogers, who’s the world renowned bear expert.
Mendelson: You mentioned the biodiversity and some of the moral and ethical reasons to stop the bear hunt. We talk a lot about climate change on this podcast. We just did an interview with the Adirondack Council about a proposition that’s going on the ballot right now for the Adirondack State Park. What other climate change benefits might there be, if any, to stopping the bear hunt and preserving bear habitat?
Metler: Well, it’s the same things. Preserving the understory with their scat keeps water supplies and keeps the water table higher to prevent forest fires. And I don’t know if we can really put that on black bears to solve climate [change]. But we certainly shouldn’t be eliminating one of our environmental advocates.
But I share your concern about the climate and very frustrated and I live in an area where we are subjected to forest fires. And bears do suffer as well as other species when the forest is ablaze.
Mendelson: I think about the Jennings Creek Fire last year, which impacted both Northern New Jersey and Southern Orange County. And yeah, that’s a real concern of what happens not only to the people, of course, but what happens to wildlife living within the forest as it happens. Our state DEC has said the probability for forest fires like that will only increase over the next few dozen years.
What specific actions can we take both as New Jersey residents who might be listening to this, but also residents living in Southern Orange County, like I said, they live on the border of Sussex. What can we do to help put a stop to the bear hunt?
Metler: The first thing is to join us. And that doesn’t mean that you need to pay a fee to join us. You can just join us. Become a member and join us at tabling events. Come to our protests. We only, 2% of our work is protesting. 90% of our work is educational. I do bear presentations. I’ll let Doreen talk about the tabling opportunities throughout the state and how the public responds to them, Doreen.
Frega: So we do … Gosh. Sometimes we do over 100 outreaches. Sometimes we do a lot more. Last year. I think it was up to 125 130 outreaches. We go all around New Jersey, North, South, Central. And we educate the public about the bears. What’s going on. And even till this day a good portion of the public doesn’t know that there’s a bear hunt, but they all hate the bear hunt. They don’t want the bear hunt. They want it to stop. So that’s really important to get out there, educate the public, let them know exactly how they can get involved, how they can help us. We always look for new members because, you know, it’s important. This way, if we had more people, we could be more places in New Jersey. And, you know, you actually get to talk and find out that residents are upset that they don’t see their bears anymore. Some of them have their, you know, their so-called bears that used to visit them and they don’t see them anymore. And they know that the population has decreased and they’re very upset about it and they still can’t believe this is going on and they want it to stop.
Mendelson: What is the most common reaction that you hear from New Jersey residents when you tell them that there’s a bear hunt?
Doreen Frega: Well, they’re they’re opposed to it. Number one. Number two, they just can’t believe how cruel and inhumane, that they would do this kind of a bear hunt, especially since New Jersey introduced the bow and arrow. And that segment is in October. And they’re just horrified that that’s going on. And they all still talk about how they killed Pedals, the bear that walked upright, and they shot him the second day when they instituted the bow hunt.
And so they’re so upset over that. I have seen multiple videos of Pedals walking through residents’ yards. I actually had one guy when he was telling me the story, he was sobbing over it. He was so upset and crying. And he just didn’t understand why they would do something like that. So people don’t want it. The residents don’t want it. They’re upset. it just continues to go on; and the people feel that they’re as voiceless as the bears.
Mendelson: I feel like that can apply to a lot of different topics these days with that feeling. So, I saw a call for an executive order to Governor Murphy and I hoping we might be able to just talk about what that is and how people could send one.
Metler: Governor Murphy is one of the most powerful governors in our country. He has the power of executive orders. He can direct, like he did in the past, he directed all the state parks to be closed to bear hunting just by executive order. And it won’t be questioned. He has the power to stop the bear hunt. He promised he campaigned twice on that. So that’s a concern that he’s not following his promises, but we’re in a very unique political situation in our country right now. And we understand that it’s very difficult to get things done. But with grassroots action, with the public coming together and with more people getting out there, teaching people about Black Bears, telling them what they can do to prevent encounters, that all goes to stopping it in our own way. Because if bears are not closer to our homes, the complaints go down. If the complaints go down, the Division of Fish and Wildlife’s justification for the hunt goes away. And then we gain political points for that.
Mendelson: So for people who are listening, what are, so we talked about garbage, but what are some other ways for them to safely keep the bears away from their home?
Metler: Well, garbage is the number one attractant. If you don’t want to purchase a bear-resistant can, you really have to put your garbage out on the day of [pick up.] My can broke once, and I stood guard. (laughs) I had to stand guard because I did not want a bear going through my trash and getting calories because that increases their population. So we also consider that if you have a bear resistant can and you’re not feeding bears bird seed and other attractants and you could have a water feature, you could have fruit debris on your, on the ground feeding bears, their population numbers go down because they don’t absorb the embryos if they don’t gain enough weight. So it’s like contraception in a can and a garbage can. So it’s simple. It’s very, very simple.
So that’s what we tell people to do. And also, if a bear does come near your house after you’ve done all of those things, let’s say you built your house on a greenway, which used to be the bear’s way back into the woods, well, then you can use aversive conditioning techniques. So what’s that? That’s like taking a coffee can, filling it with coins, and going like this, shaking it really loud. They run from loud noises. But.
Couple days later, the bear might be used to that sound. So then you open and close the umbrella. You might use a water hose. And you do this at a safe distance. And after a while, they get the message and they won’t come back because they want to be welcomed, not unwelcome. And they are fearful of us. So that’s a sign. Sometimes they’ll turn around and do this thing, which is like a love charge. I say, oh, later, here, go, go, go. And I’m like 120 pounds and they’re afraid of me. Twice my weight.
Mendelson: Let me ask, so we have events in October, but I understand this is going through the end of the year, that right?
Metler: It is one week in October and ostensibly one week in December unless it’s extended for four additional days in December. That is the bear hunt. The original hunt that they requested was the entire month of October, parts of November, and a lot in December. So we’ve managed to keep it down. As bad as it is, we have kept it down. So that’s important.
Mendelson: And who is that? Who are the people who advocate for the Bear Hunt?
Metler: The Division of Fish and Wildlife, the state game agency, we basically look at this agency as a hunting club masquerading as a state agency. They are the architects of the hunt. They are the counters of the bears and whatever they say goes for wildlife that’s under their control. And that’s most wildlife.
Mendelson: And so for people who are listening and want to take action, should, where can they go online? Where can they find more about your organization and the work you’re doing to stop the bear hunt?
Metler: They can go to savenjbears.com. It’ll bring them right to the website directly for bears. They can support, even for a dollar, you can support our billboards that we put up. We put up five a year to educate. They’re like 24 hour protests for a whole month. So we like billboards. They get the message out. They keep it in the eyes of the public. So it’s important just like Doreen’s over 100 tabling events; and that’s no easy feat. That’s a lot of hard work that goes into protecting like a keystone species in our state. And the more people that can get involved, the better it is.
Mendelson: I agree. Doreen, is there anything you want to add?
Frega: No, I mean Angie covered everything and like I said, they can go on to our website and if they wanted to get involved all of our events are listed on the website and … we just try to protect that the nears as much as we can we try to be out there We try to be their voice. We have to keep them in the public eye because if we’re not out there then people don’t know exactly what’s going on. So it’s really important to be the grassroots for the bears and to be their voice.
Metler: And I like to add to that when you work for bears and when you want to help bears, I look at that as being called by bears because Native Americans always said that they are kin to us. And so if they’re kin, they’re calling to you, answer that call and get involved. If you love bears, you’re being called.
Outro
BJ: That’s our show for today.
If you like what you hear, I encourage you to go to The Monroe Gazette over at monroeogazette.com and become a subscriber. Subscriptions are $10 a month, which sounds like a lot, but then I saw the other day what The Photo News was asking for.
And for those of you who don’t know, The Photo News is like the local rag that allegedly covers news in Monroe and Woodbury, which is our beat. And they’re asking people for contributions of $150 for the year, which I thought was crazy. And so we decided to do $10 a month, which adds up to $120 a year, which is still less than what The Photo News is asking for in terms of a non-tax deductible contribution.
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Reader note: The Monroe Gazette reached out to comment from New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy about this interview. We asked if the Governor planned to use his executive authority to cancel the remaining bear hunt for the year, and permanently. A representative from Governor Murphy pointed us to this video — it’s the third video under the headline, “Gov. Murphy answers viewers’ questions on ‘Ask Gov. Murphy’ program – Oct. 23, 2025” where the governor answers that question at 3:30 and says, in part, the following:
“… I was led to believe there were non-lethal means by which we can control the bear population. And frankly I heard far too many near-misses, particularly with kids, and particularly but not exclusively more than not in Sussex, Warren, Hunterdon, and Morris Counties, so the upper west / north western part of the state, and I tell ya I wasn’t going to lose a kid on our watch with a policy, well intentioned, that was not working. So we reinstated it [The bear hunt.]”
The governor then went on to marvel at the number of bears killed, 368, over six days in October of 2025.
He then added:
“So again if we had a non-lethal way to do this effectively, sign me up. We tried that, it didn’t work, but I promise you we didn’t do this, say that, to get elected, we believe with all our hearts we can do it non-lethal, turns out we couldn’t.”