Friday, May 20, 2011
There be bears!
In what is not, actually, a great development in ursine-human relations, there is a bear on the loose in Princeton Township. There has been much talk of bears returning to parts of New Jersey whence they had long departed, and bears have been systematically migrating out of the rural and forested northwestern corner of the state for twenty years. Here is an interesting map from the state (how much did it cost to compile and produce?) that depicts that migration.
I had not heard that bears had slipped in to Princeton Township, which is quite built up, but Mr. Google turned up one bear siting in June 2009. If they become more frequent than biannual we can expect a hilarious local argument between the bourgeoisie, who will want something done about this new phantom "danger" to their children, and the sizeable animal rights constituency in town, who will want us to accommodate the bears among us because they are people too.
8 Comments:
By 
, at
Fri May 20, 08:31:00 AM:
Sort of gives new meaning to the need to get out of the market....
Eric Hines
By , at
Fri May 20, 10:01:00 AM:
Last fall, Lawrenceville School similarly had a bear sighting on the back lacrosse fields.
By , at
Fri May 20, 10:42:00 AM:
We've had problems too over the years with bears, and we're not in the country. The last one was all over town causing havoc. It knocked down my bird feeder several times and left its mark in another way twice! It got to the point where I had to take the feeder down every night and put in on my enclosed porch. I heard that a hunter got it last year. It must be true because I haven't had any problems this year. It was a little scary to think it was actually in my yard.
By 
joated, at
Fri May 20, 11:36:00 AM:
Let them get much further south and the blueberry farmers will not report bear sightings. Carcasses on the other hand....
By Fausta, at
Fri May 20, 01:06:00 PM:
Oh, there have been bear sightings in the Township since at least 5-6 years ago, when my son was attending summer day camp at PDS and all the kids were brought indoors after a bear showed up.
I wonder if it's the same bear?
By , at
Fri May 20, 01:58:00 PM:
Here, in rural Georgia, we had a bear lurking outside, knocking over trash cans, chasing small dogs. He is now a rug.
By Tim Abbott, at
Sun May 22, 11:23:00 AM:
Princeton. That's the town that uses snipers to take down 200 whitetails a year to protect your shrubbery, right? At least some of the residents seem in favor of wildlife management.
By TigerHawk, at
Sun May 22, 11:34:00 AM:
Yes, and that entirely sensible policy has been suspended in favor of putting our deer on birth control. Not only did the local liberals lose their minds, but the animals rights people vandalized the mayor's car, as I recall. Then there was the time that a deer got hit by a car and was twitching in pain on the side of the road. The first cop to arrive at the scene dispatched said deer with his weapon, and the liberals went nuts about *that.* Real stupidity.
