TRENTON, N.J. _ The New Jersey Senate Economic Growth committee voted 3-2 to advance the measure, dubbed "Pedals' law" after the upright walking black bear whose apparent killing by a bow hunter last week has galvanized opposition to the state's black bear hunt.
The law was introduced by Sen. Raymond Lesniak, D-Union, on Thursday after reports first surfaced that Pedals _ an Internet sensation because of his habit of walking on two hinds legs because of a disabled front paw _ had been killed.
"My neighbors are very upset about the death of our beloved bear," said Vernon resident Angie Metler, executive director of the Animal Protection League of New Jersey. "He was not a nuisance bear."
Pedals would be one of 549 bears reported killed through Saturday during a six-day hunt by hunters with bows and arrows and muzzle loaded rifles.
The measure would require the Division of Fish and Wildlife to develop a five-year plan for non-lethal methods to control the black bear population.
It also would ban the practice of using food as bait to entice bears.
"Real hunters don't need bait to hunt," said Lesniak, the committee chairman. "That's not hunting. That's not sport. That's just shooting fish in a barrel."
Sen. Steven Oroho, R-Sussex, voted against the bill, citing the crop damage bears do to local farms and the number of bear-human conflicts in his district.
"The amount of bear interaction has significantly increased since I was a child," said Oroho, who also cited an encounter his son had with an aggressive bear while working on a local golf course.
The measure now goes to a vote by the full Senate.
Last week an Assembly committee voted to ban bear hunts permanently when it approved a bill moving in that house.
