Posted on 05/15/2008 6:28:30 AM PDT by NewJerseyJoe
"Bearzilla" is real and living somewhere in West Milford.
A 726-pound male black bear, the heaviest ever handled by New Jersey wildlife officials, was captured over the weekend in the northern Passaic County township. It was treated for a nose injury, marked with identifying tags and set free.
"That is just its spring weight. It only recently left a winter den ... Wait until it feeds all summer to fatten up for denning this fall. It could get over 900 pounds," said Len Wolgast, a member of the state Fish and Game Council and former wildlife biology professor.
The bear was trapped and tranquilized, along with another bear, on Saturday. A third male bear was trapped in the same area Monday.
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
Malsua, looks like we will have an interesting spring and summer ahead of us, with visitors like this!
“A picture is worth a thousand words”
Sure it wasn’t Rosie O’Donnell?
MMMMM...bear steaks, roast bear, bear chops, bear chili, bearburgers, bear goulash...
Wild New Jersey ping
Nine hundred pounds? Hey Yogi, lay of the “picinic” baskets!
...hmm....wonder if that was that the same bear that was hanging around Tony Soprano’s patio?....or was that down by the Bada Bing in Lodi?
yeah....am I first to do the official TTIWWP post?
Hey NJ Joe. Bears are a big issue in WM. The town has asked all residents to use bear proof garbage cans because the bears are such a problem. My dad has this great photo somewhere of a bear climbing over the fence in our backyard. The bear was so heavy that the top of the fence was nearly touching the ground.
Every two weeks or so in the summer, one of the mothers in our neighborhood will ride around in a car warning all the children to get off the streets because a bear has been spotted wandering around the neighborhood.
IWHPAPIOWA
I lost any faith in those "bear-proof" cans the first time I saw one mangled in the street, with a trail of garbage leading away from it....
Not that bear, but a big one from Michigan's UP. 800+ lbs...
Mike
Joe,
Wife said the most enormous bear she’s ever seen was walking up the front Path Tuesday. She raced to the front door, slammed it shut. That startled the bear who then moved towards the back of the house so she ran back and shut that door. It stood in the yard for a few minutes just nosing around and then walked up the hill into the woods. I’ve got my camera right there but she didn’t think to get a picture.
Neighbor lady was also disturbed at the size. Makes me wonder if it was the same bear. I’m only a couple miles from the Passaic border.
If they were in fact females, they were enormously oversize -- the bigger one looked to be more than three feet across through the middle. Their heads were big and fat, too -- I've noticed that the bigger bears have gigantic, fat heads, that make them look almost grizzly-like. Smaller bears have more of a "dog snout" look, IMO....
Touche! (I actually went to the link...."what the heck?...what newspaper prints an article like that without an awesome photo", I said to myself!)
Here's one from a couple years ago as it walks right behind my house. Wife said Tuesday's visit was by this one's big brother.
LOL!! Beat me to it!
The second-funniest black bear story was of the bear in Washington state that got drunk drinking 36 beers from a campsite -- but it only drank the local beer (Rainier) and didn't drink the Busch brand beer. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3580626.stm
The all-time funniest black bear story was from 2006 -- and, coincidentally, also from West Milford. A black bear got chased up a tree -- by a housecat. Full story is here (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/06/060613-cat-bear.html), but the picture alone was worth a thousand words:
Wait until it feeds all summer ... It could get over 900 pounds
see...now if you had posted ICBYFTO...I might not have gotten it. har har
OK...that's a classic...the little, bitty kitty treeing a freakin' bear.
I love camping...I love outdoors, but I suffer from ABLAMAPBC. Good luck!
That's a very condescending comment.
Black bears are highly intelligent, are able to learn, and eat to survive; in fact, for almost half the year, they don't eat at all. And they're hetero.
You owe an apology to every bear in the state.
It is my favorite news photo of all time. It doesn't even need a news story to accompany it.
All Bears Look At Me As Purina Bear Chow
(chicken!)
If I saw Bear in my backyard I would pump it full of 12 Ga Slugs.
We dont have a Bear problem here we have a Mountian Lions but Bear/Lion it dosent matter, If its comes in my yard it’s going to be full of lead.
You Kill It, You Eat It.....
It sounds like this bear could not read the signs.
Make a nice rug.
Oh no, there goes Tokyo.
My cat would so do that! She chases the hell outta my new puppy, who ironically, looks like a small bear.
We’ve had ours for a couple of years with no mangling. The main problem is that they’re small. Also, trying to get the lids off when they get stuck is “fun”.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.