Johndavid...

The vast majority of people reading this website and camping/hiking in bear country aren't doing these activities in NJ. Urbanized black bears are more familiar with humans and their behaviors. Wild bears - the bears one might encounter in a larger park or wilderness area - are not familiar with human habits and behaviors and may be more unpredictable. Not that we're talking about bear attacks here - we're talking about not habituating bears to human food, because once they discover humans = picnic baskets, they can become even more brazen in their approach to and regard for humans. It doesn't take long for habituated bears to become nuisance bears, and then become dead bears.

Apparently you do not know anyone who has been mauled by a bear... I do. And sadly, Anchorage recently experienced it's first urban mauling that nearly killed a 15 year old participating in a mountain bike race in a city park. Most of our attacks here are brown bears, but black bears are very common in our neighborhoods, and they can be aggressive, especially if a person gets between them and a snack.

Here's an article that ran in Sunday's paper:

Bears Among Us

And be sure to check out the Urban Bear Photo Gallery... some great shots there.

Bears are not "big racoons." IMHO, It is absolutely irresponsible to even suggest that bears should not be given ample respect and treated as the wild creatures that they are (who deserve to remain wild).

MNS

Edit: Just recalled this - I had a co-worker who was sitting at home on the edge of Anchorage, minding her own business reading a book with her husband one evening when out of nowhere a black bear came through a window and into their house. Went on a mini-rampage and did a bit of damage. I don't honestly recall if it left on it's own or they killed it (it's been a couple of years now). It was a highly unusual event, for sure.