Boy's bear visit speaks volumes about hunt

http://www.northjersey.com ^ | Thursday, May 22, 2003 | By RICHARD COWEN

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

Boy's bear visit speaks volumes about hunt

Thursday, May 22, 2003 By RICHARD COWEN STAFF WRITER

It's been a wild two days for a kid still in diapers who can't talk, but Mark Tregidgo of Sparta has suddenly become the poster child for New Jersey's proposed bear hunt.

Tregidgo survived a close encounter with a black bear that wandered into an enclosed front porch Tuesday afternoon and touched him. Now the bear is dead, the child was to appear with his family today on "Good Morning America," - and the state Division of Youth and Family Services is investigating whether the boy was unsupervised as the incident developed.

"I've gone from a nobody to a somebody pretty quickly," said the boy's 29-year-old father, Django. The "Good Morning America" crew was to interview him this morning from the same porch where the incident took place. He's also gotten a call from a filmmaker from the Discovery Channel looking to do a segment on the problem of bears in suburbia.

The Tregidgo family's 15 minutes of fame come on the day when hunters and animal rights activists are heading to Trenton, where the state Fish and Game Council is holding a public hearing on a bear hunt proposed for December. The opposing sides have waged a war of words for months -but ironically, what happened to a 2-year-old who can't talk yet may end up speaking the loudest.

Mark's mother, Amy, says she was in the bathroom Tuesday afternoon when the tot wandered into the porch. She came out to find Mark there - with a 175-pound female bear right next to him.

What happened next is what the state refers to as a "Category One Incident." Amy saw the bear paw at Mark, tapping him on the side of the head. The boy wasn't hurt, but the act amounted to a death sentence for the bear: The state defines a Category One incident as anytime a bear comes within 10 feet of human, and can be killed.

"It didn't seem like he [she] was trying to hurt him," his mother said. The bear "just kind of pushed him on the side of the head."

After frantically shooing the bear away, she dialed 911; the bear scampered across the yard and stopped to relieve herself. Snuggles, the family pit bull, then came around from the side of the house and started barking, but the bear wouldn't leave. Minutes later, three Sparta police officers arrived and drew their shotguns. Three shots later, the bear was dead.

"Frightening is not the word to describe how I felt," Amy said. "Terrifying is more like it."

DEP Commissioner Bradley M. Campbell on Wednesday defended the killing as an "appropriate, if regrettable," response.

"This is an unhappy incident but it is a situation where a child has been put at risk," he said.

Django Tregidgo said the bear was probably going for the bag of garbage he had on the porch. "I can't store all of my garbage in the house," he said. "And if I put it in a shed, the bears would tear the shed down."

Campbell alluded to that aspect of the incident, saying it was a reminder that residents of bear country should either keep their garbage inside, or use bear-proof containers.

The state Fish and Game Council has proposed issuing up to 10,000 permits to hunters to reduce the state's bear population, which is estimated at 1,500 to 3,200. But hunting opponents say the state should take a more aggressive approach to educating residents on co-existence with bears. They want municipalities to enforce a state law that forbids feeding the bears, either intentionally or unintentionally.

This year, the state and pro-bear groups also agreed to jointly explore a contraceptive program for wild bears.

Lynda Smith, director of the Bear Education and Resource Center of West Milford, said the group will donate a bear-proof garbage can to the Tregidgos.

"Of course everyone is concerned with what might have happened," Smith said. "But the fact is, the child wasn't hurt. The bear wasn't acting aggressively."

The incident has prompted a media feeding frenzy at the Tregidgos house on Deerfield Lane. The story made it onto the 11 o'clock news on two networks.

But it was a knock on the door after midnight that had Django Tregidgo upset.

It was a DYFS case worker, wanting to know why the child had been left unattended to wander onto the porch, and for how long. "I told him to get out of the house or I was going to call the cops," Tregidgo said. "What gives them the right to come at 12:30 at night?"

The case worker departed after a brief interview.

DYFS spokesman Joseph Delmar said the agency heard about the incident and sent the case worker to make sure the child had been properly supervised. Delmar would not comment on the investigation.

Amy Tregidgo said the boy was out of her sight for only a few moments before she went looking for him on the porch. Her son doesn't appear traumatized by the incident, she said.

He been pointing to his head and saying 'bear,' " she said.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

I'm not a hunter, my father is. He shot and killed a No. American Black bear, on a hunting trip in Canada, many years ago. He was sitting in a tree stand, with a very powerful gun (Yes, I'm a woman, don't know the type of gun) and shot the bear, three times. Killed it.

Later, his friends teased him about shooting it three times, the first shot probably did it, alone. He agreed, they were probably right.

He said, with the adrenalin pumping, and the bear rising on it's hind legs, staring up at him in the tree... he didn't stop to think. He just shot and shot and shot.

He always wondered what would have happened if he had shot only once, and only injured the bear. Think the bear would have retaliated? Most certainly!

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Remember when your friend stated that there were no black bears in North America? Good for a chuckle. Check out the picture on this thread. Care to go hunting?

[LurkerNoMore!]

Snuggles, the family pit bull...

?

[JerseyHighlander]

"Until a child dies," it's the only way these unthinking, fuzzy warm feeling, SUV driving environmentalists in NJ will be pushed off the "high moral ground" they have built upon the suffering of some poor family in the near future. Last fall there was an incident very similar to this in my town, yet immediately the "No Bear Hunt" people were given all the media attention, and not the extremely stressed out parents of the nearly slaughtered young child.

I have photos nearly identical to yours Malsua, including one of a bear trying to eat my neighbor's little dog who was trapped in an enclosed deck.

[flying Elvis]

the bear scampered across the yard and stopped to relieve herself....

And thus answering the age old question about what a bear does in the woods.

[harpseal]

Those who live near bears need to understand that a bear will eat just about anything that could be nourishing. The child is very lucky tobe alive and not mauled. The pro=bear idiots would prodecute the woman for feeding the bear if it had eaten the child.

[CurlyDave]

This year, the state and pro-bear groups also agreed to jointly explore a contraceptive program for wild bears.

Lead is an excellent bear contraceptive...

[Malsua]

>>"Until a child dies," it's the only way these unthinking, fuzzy warm feeling, SUV driving environmentalists in NJ will be pushed off the "high moral ground"<<

I agree and disagree at the same time :)

I drive an SUV. However, I live at the highest point in NJ where people live. We got over 12 feet of Snow in the 2002/2003 winter. I have no guilt about that, yet alot of environazis would make me feel that way.

We have alot of bears up here, but in this particular situation, she fed the bears. This is so stupid, it's not worthy of note except when she kills her family.

Someone near me has fed the bears for years. He gets fined every year and continues to do it. He loses in court all the time, but continues anyway. This draws them in and while he loses in court, at some point he needs to wear a meat suit. This will change his opinion.

-Mal

[drhogan]

the bear was set up. the mom had been feeding it. so the bear comes on the porch, knocks the kid, and they shoot the bear. every time people feed a bear, the bear comes too close to people (or kills a kid), and the bear dies. i think the bear feeders are at fault on this, not the bear.

[JerseyHighlander]

Nothing against SUV's, pointing out the hypocrisy of certain leading NJ environmentalists who's spouses drive SUVs. Not that I'm naming any particluar leading environmentalist.

Roger that on the bear feeding.

[drhogan]

a kid was killed last year in New York by a black bear. again, it turns out the people were feeding the bears. I would suggest people not feed bears. of course, if a bear comes after a kid, you have to shoot it. but fewer kids and bears would die if people had some sense.

[org.whodat]

Think the bear would have retaliated? Most certainly!

No the bear,if able, would have run away. I'm in my fifties, my father gave me my first shotgun when i was nine,so you could say I've been hunting a couple of times at least.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Well, my father got his first shotgun at the age of twelve, has killed deer, wild boar, one bear in his life. The hunting trip in Canada was the only time he went bear hunting, and he was being cautious. He does admit that the first shot probably did it. He took the teasing from his friends in good humor... he killed an older bear, very large, and the other bears that were killed that weekend were much smaller. It was an interesting trip for him.

[org.whodat]

Forgot to add that I probably would have like your father. And I still have the model 37, 410.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Yes, I remember that! That was a crazy statement. I've personally seen them, I'm from within an hour's drive of Teton Park and Yellowstone. I know people from my hometown who hunted black bear.

[Romulus]

The child is very lucky to be alive and not mauled.

Yes; pit bulls are notoriously unpredictable.

[Walkingfeather]

I think you want to make sure a now pissed off and injured bear is down for the count.

[Romulus]

?

The wrong animal got shot.

[Dan from Michigan]

I never knew Jersey had bears until I saw the FR threads about it. I saw two up hunting two years back, but North Michigan is known for them.

[Dan from Michigan]

They want municipalities to enforce a state law that forbids feeding the bears, either intentionally or unintentionally.

Anyone that sees me post knows that I have a strong libertarian streak. That said, I agree that LOCAL(township, county, city, etc) govts should pass laws on this. Perferable with a punishment being a butt-kicking.

How can people be so STUPID?