'Time Running Out' For Injured Walking Bear in Morris County

It’s been more than a month since a petition was started and tens of thousands of dollars raised to safely move an injured bear in Morris County to a wildlife center in upstate New York.

The supporters of Pedals the bear, however, are currently in a stalemate with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, which has full jurisdiction over the animal and its habitat. Before the Orphaned Wildlife Center can tranquilize and relocate Pedals, it needs approval from New Jersey.

Earlier this week, Patch reached out to the DEP and asked for an update. Spokesman Larry Hajna said the state’s field biologists are looking for Pedals to assess his condition, but have not yet made contact with the bear.

One of Pedals supporters, Sabrina Pugsley, released a statement explaining time is of the essence, before Pedals faces a rough winter without the use of his two front paws. Pugsley’s letter follows.

Dear Editor,

Even with over 200,000 signatures from every corner of the world it seems as if Pedals the bear has hit a brick wall. New Jersey officials are dragging their feet to help this poor bear and time is a big factor. “We are asking for a commitment from the state of NJ to allow us to help the handicapped bear.”

There is a bear hunt scheduled for the week of December 7 which proposes a threat not only to his life but to the many people who may be in the woods to protect him from the hunters.

For over a year Pedals has been injured with no use of his arms. When Sabrina Pugsley started the Help Save Pedals the Bear facebook page in July she felt like she would never get help for this poor boy. Sabrina and her neighbors placed many calls regarding the bear and no calls were answered. By the end of the summer Pedals was very skinny and Pedals was gaining local facebook shares. When Lisa Rose Rublack shared a post, it was seen by The Orphaned Wildlife Center in Otisville, NY. They offered to take Pedals in. His ship finally came in. Quickly, the GoFundMe page was started and in 14 days raised over $22,000 to tranquilize, transport and build an enclosure at the NY State Sanctuary who specializes in bears.

Quickly, NJDEP Division of Fish & Wildlife released a statement saying they have been monitoring his movement and condition of the bear since last year and assured the public that the best course of action is to allow the animal to continue to live its life in the wild (that was on Oct 2). Lisa Rose Rublack started a petition asking NJ Fish and Wildlife to do the right thing for Pedals. Letters were mailed to three offices, NJDFW, NJDEP and the Governors office. This same letter along with the petition was emailed to a half dozen officials by the 13th of October. No one has replied.
You will get a different answer daily from the three offices who have been called by the petitioners for an update every day. Most often they reply by saying that they have no plans to help Pedals. He is fine. Or they say they are trying to capture him to evaluate him. Residents have called to report sightings as requested by the NJDEP Division of Fish and Wildlife. Most recently on October 16th, numerous residents reported seeing him. Those reports were given to the NJDEP Division of Fish and Wildlife via telephone and email. When those reports were followed up on we were told that there was no validity to them.

Sabrina is concerned that he will start to den with cold weather approaching. She also fears that Pedals may not survive the upcoming bear hunt. “If he does make it through the winter, he will be back in the neighborhoods where he was once bitten by a dog. He is unable to defend himself” She spoke with the mayor of her town and he has made phone calls to the DEP expressing his concern for the residents in town as well as the bears safety during the upcoming bear hunt. Mayor Felter is in support of the bear going to sanctuary.

Rublack finally reached out herself and got one return call from the DEP. In that conversation no plans were made to help Pedals. The DEP trusts their biologists (who by the way have never met Pedals) and they feel he is fine. He then went on to say that they are trying to capture the bear to rehab and release usually to an undisclosed area or if he can not be rehabilitated, the state of NJ is not equipped to keep an adult bear and they would euthanize. “This is just not acceptable. Basically I got two different answers in the conversation with NJDEP and time is running out. They should just be the heroes and do what’s right for the bear that the entire world has grown to love.”

Sabrina and Lisa both agree that if the State would just join forces with us, we could get this bear moved to a great sanctuary who intends on building him a proper habitat where he can den and won’t need to use his front legs to eat or climb. They will provide medical care to hopefully fix the one arm that he does have. The clock is ticking and Pedals the bear needs resolution. A tentative date of November 10th is scheduled to deliver the update petition in person to the NJDEP followed by a gathering at Governor Christie’s office.

Sincerely,
Sabrina Pugsley