Local animal rights activist fined for part in bear hunt protest

By Carol Reif
WEST MILFORD ‑‑ A West Milford animal rights activist who was arrested last fall while taking part in a protest of the state's black bear hunt was in court recently, where she was fined $283.
According to Angi Metler, executive director and co-founder of the Animal Rights Protection League of New Jersey, Cheryl A. Monnett, 48, and the other four protesters pleaded guilty to a Department of Fish and Wildlife violation of using a wildlife management area contrary to state law. Metler is head of the league's bear group.
They appeared in Andover Joint Municipal Court on Wednesday.
The protest took place in October at the Whittingham Wildlife Management Area in Fredon, where hunters were bringing in bears they had harvested to a check station.
Catherine McCartney, 49, and Danielle Varon, 50, both of Vernon; and Jerome Mandel, 72, of Newton, were also sentenced Wednesday. Mandel and Varon were both fined $283 for the same violation, while McCartney was slapped with a $533 fine, because it was her second offense, Metler confirmed. They will have no criminal records, she said.
However, the fifth protester, Dr. William Crain, 73, a New York City professor and Dutchess County resident, will serve jail time because he had been arrested multiple times protesting bear hunts. Published reports said that Crain had been fined for his first six arrests and then spent 10 days in Sussex County Keogh-Dwyer Correctional Facility in 2016.
The former New Jersey resident, pleaded guilty to the violation
and to obstruction of justice because, authorities said, he left the designated protest area and walked over to the check station.
According to published reports, Crain and his wife, Ellen, run a sanctuary for abused and neglected animals.
According to Metler, Doris Lin, a Freehold-based animal rights attorney and director of legal affairs for the Animal Protection League of New Jersey, negotiated a $2,500 fine for Crain, who is going to be behind bars for 15 days in the same jail starting Jan. 2.
According to published reports, Crain had been facing six-months in jail, but Municipal Prosecutor Anthony Arbore was convinced to reduce it to 15 days.
Metler said the bear group is planning to hold a vigil at the jail for Crain, but details have yet to be worked out.
As for Mandel, Metler said, he "just took a couple of steps into the road to yell at a hunter, really should have had his charges completely dismissed."
"The prosecutor would have been willing to dismiss Jerry's charges if the (state's) Division of Fish and Wildlife agreed. The three officers from DFW (Bureau of Law Enforcement) present at the courthouse refused," Metler said. This could not be confirmed at presstime.
Metler said Mandel agreed to plead guilty and pay the fine "to avoid the time and burden of a trial."
"It's maddening that the DFW gets to decide whether a bear hunt protester gets their charges dismissed," Metler said.
She said the group is disgusted by the amount of jail time Crain got.
"We were in court with people who were there for DWIs, who got less time," she said.
"Yes, Bill (Crain) is a repeat offender, but he is a peaceful, principled man who was willing to risk his freedom to draw attention to the hunt," Metler said, adding: "It's outrageous that he got 15 days in jail."
Metler, who said the bear group got its start in West Milford, said it has been protesting the annual bear hunts, which state wildlife officials contend are an important part of controlling the bear population and minimizing run-ins with humans.
The bear group, in its 25 years of existence, has halted eight hunts "under three governors," Metler claimed.
She said animal rights activists are feeling things might be going their way now that the incoming governor, Democrat Phil Murphy has called for a moratorium on the hunts.