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MINE HILL — A New Jersey black bear that remarkably survived the winter with an arrow in its face and mouth has a new lease on life.
With assistance from the state Division of Fish and Wildlife and several technicians, a Mine Hill veterinarian removed the projectile from the approximately 3-year-old bear on Thursday evening, hours after it was caught by officials.
“We’ve never seen anything quite like that,” said Dr. Steven Hodes, who performed the surgery at about 7 p.m. in the parking lot of the Hodes Veterinary Group on Route 46. “Normally when they get shot in the face or head you expect them to die in during the winter. He was fortunate in that he got shot in an area that allowed him to eat and drink.”
The arrow was wedged from the top of the bear’s nose, through its tongue to the bottom portion of its jaw, Department of Environmental Protections spokesman Bob Considine said. The arrow didn’t come out the bottom of the animal’s jaw, though. Officials still aren’t sure how the bear was able to drink because of the way the arrow was positioned.
Fish and Wildlife officials located the bear Thursday afternoon after receiving calls from concerned people who saw it in the area of New Egypt Raceway.
The arrow that was lodged in the face and mouth of a black bear.When technician Kim Tinnes and her team arrived, the bear was gone, though. It was spotted a short time later running across Route 539, at which time officials were able to capture it by shooting it with a tranquilizer dart.
The bear was then brought to Mine Hill and within an hour the arrow had been removed. The bear weighs about 220 pounds, 50 to 70 pounds less than a normal bear of its age.
The man who shot the bear reported it to the Division of Fish and Wildlife. He was issued a summons for attempting to take a bear illegally.
The bear was released this morning into the Colliers Mills Wildlife Management Area in Jackson, Considine said.
“It’s very gratifying for us to be able to help,” said Hodes, who has been working with Fish and Wildlife for about three years and performed the surgery for free.
Exposing the Big Game 
Reblogged this on Ann Novek–With the Sky as the Ceiling and the Heart Outdoors.
Think about all the hundreds of other bears who suffer this same thing and worse. What the DEC and those who delight in killing for fun, known as hunting, don’t even acknowledge is that scenes like this are the norm in we love to kill land. I had a client once who oohed awed at the little fawn in her yard but at the same time her brother had a captive bolt trap in his yard and she was all for the yearly deer slaughter in Solon OH where she is a resident. I sent her a letter pointing out her hypocrisy and lost a client but good riddance. I saw a deer with an arrow in her throat standing in the middle of the street stamping her foot and shaking her head. She eventually went into the woods. I will never ever forget that. It’s a good thing the person who did that wasn’t in front of me. Lord knows what I might have done. But again, this is the norm for bow hunting.
You’d think a 50% crippling rate would not be worth the risk for them.