Bear hunts do not reduce human-bear conflict, and are no more than trophy hunts, spilling blood of innocent creatures for pleasure. As it stands, the current status of the bear hunt also fails to meet the requirements set by the New Jersey Supreme Court to keep NJ’s neighborhoods safe from disease. Hunting creates an increase in opportunity for  animal–human interactions and can even be attributed to facilitating zoonotic disease transmission. The widely used practice of bating promotes bears to congregate at designated locations, raising the risk of disease introduction, and spillover into other wildlife species, domestic livestock, and humans. Baiting related diseases like Bovine Tuberculosis and Chronic Wasting Disease, have cost affected states hundreds of millions of dollars in direct costs over the past decade. It is possible to live in harmony and co-exist peacefully with bears, and that calls for more effective trash management, and bear-smart policies, not more killing.