Above: Kelcey Burguess of the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife goes over data after a tranquilized black bear fell from a tree into a net in an East Brunswick resident’s yard on July 6. Below: Kim Tinnes of the New Jersey Division of Wish and Wildlife prepares to shoot a tranquilizer dart at the male bear. PHOTOS BY JEFF GRANIT staff Mother Nature, it seems, has a sense of humor. Paul Sulkes has been out West to Yellowstone National Park, where 400-plus-pound grizzly bears are a common sight. Well, a common sight for most.
“We never saw a bear,” Sulkes said .
Yet now, here he was back on Tompkins Road, his home of 39 years, staring with about two dozen other curious onlookers at a 263- pound black bear in his neighbor’s tree.
East Brunswick police and state wildlife officials captured the 3-yearold bear in the early afternoon on July 6. Division of Fish and Wildlife officials tranquilized the bear as it lay in a tree on Tompkins Road. The bear fell safely into a net below the tree and was transported to a state wildlife management facility. The bear had first been sighted in the township on July 4, said Detective Sgt. Kevin Zebro. It moved into a wooded area along the New Jersey Turnpike near the Joyce Kilmer service area that night, Zebro said.
“At that point, they called anything off because Fish and Wildlife won’t do anything at night for safety reasons,” he said. On the morning of July 5, police started to get calls about the bear in numerous residential areas, Zebro said.
“Animal Control Officer David Blumig was basically chasing it throughout the day,” Zebro said.
Police were able to chase the bear into a tree that day. However, it climbed high up in the tree, which was located near a resident’s fence. “Wildlife [officials] didn’t want to take any chances that it would fall on the fence and get hurt,” Zebro said.
The bear looks down at a crowd of onlookers from a tree on Tompkins Road. JEFF GRANIT staff Because the bear was not harming anyone or rummaging through garbage, Zebro said the wildlife officials decided to wait until the bear got into a suitable location in a tree.
Finally, on July 6, officials were able to scare the bear into the tree on Tompkins Road after Blumig blew an air horn and another police officer revved the throttle on his motorcycle. All this commotion is what caught Sulkes’ attention.
“I heard noise in my neighbor’s backyard, so I walked between the houses and sure enough, I saw the bear running up the tree,” he said.
Sulkes said he was impressed by the animal’s speed.
“For a 300-pound bear to go up so quickly is amazing,” he said. “It’s amazing how fast they run.”
Paul Gottlieb, who owns the property where the bear was captured, heard the noise too. “I opened the bedroom window and right there was the bear,” said Gottlieb, who has lived on Tompkins Road for 33 years.
The entire incident, he said, willmake for a great story.
“To see something this size just wandering around is really astonishing,” said Gottlieb.
And while some might be a bit nervous with a 263-pound black bear on their property, Gottlieb was as cool as can be, talking with police and other residents and taking pictures of the bear in the tree.
“One bear every 30-something years is not really a serious issue,” he said.
Kim Tinnes, a wildlife services technician with the Division of Fish and Wildlife, said this bear already has a record. In three years, it has been captured six times, including three this year — in April near Exit 8 of the New Jersey Turnpike in Hightstown; last month at the Forsgate Country Club in Monroe; and now on Tompkins Road in East Brunswick.
“It’s amazing how much ground he’s covered,” Tinnes said. “It just cracks me up that he’s been that mobile.”
Tinnes said she isn’t sure why he keeps coming back to Central Jersey, but speculates it might be for a little bit of love. Tinnes said bears live to breed but unfortunately for this bear, there aren’t any mates in the area.
“He’ll keep walking until he finds a female,” Tinnes said. “If there was a female here, maybe he would settle down.”
Tinnes, who has spent 30 years working for the Division of Fish and Wildlife, said bear sightings are down across the state. But this particular bear has been keeping her busy.
“I think he just waits for us,” she said.
Tinnes said the bear would be given a satellite-tracking collar that provides hourly updates on its location to help monitor its movement once it is released.
Local residents relished the visit from their unexpected guest, flocking around Gottlieb’s property to catch a glimpse. A closeknit neighborhood that hosts block parties and “blizzard parties” when strong winter storms hit, one neighbor, Elaine Frompkin, called for a “Bear Party” once the black bear was captured.
The residents even gave their guest of honor a name: The Tompkins Road Bear.
Andwhile Tinnes said she knows the bear by its tag number, 6131, she noted that its name has repeatedly changed with each capture location.
“He is no longer the Turnpike Bear,” she said. “His is no longer the Monroe Township Bear. He is now the Tompkins Road Bear.”