BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- It's not “Bad News Bears”, but rather bad news for bears. The State Department of Environmental Conservation is proposing to expand bear hunting zones, which also include counties in the Southern Tier. Broome, Chenango, and Tioga counties are included in the proposal which aims to limit the population of black bears.
The DEC held its first public meeting in Binghamton to discuss the proposed changes, which they say are proactive.
"As you get more and more bears, you have greater prospects for problems. The number of home break- ins in the Catskills has really been climbing in recent years. Again we're trying to get ahead of things a little bit here, and see if we can contain bears before they get into areas where we really foresee they'll be real problematic," Dave Riehlman with the DEC.
The DEC is holding four more public meetings across the state for the next two days.
