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One surefire way to get a reaction on Facebook is to post a photograph of big game hunter with a recently deceased animal. If that's not enough to up the outrage, these pictures can be accompanied by stories about the supposed cowardly behavior of the hunter. That seemed to be the tactic employed by various social media users as they circulated a photograph in October 2017 purportedly showing a man named Michael Lombardi and the hibernating bear he had just killed: Although this image is real, it was not taken in 2017, nor does it show a bear that was killed while it was hibernating. This photograph has been circulating since December 2015 when it was posted to Twitter along with the caption: First bear during New Jersey's bear hunt: [Editor's note: As some social media users have taken to harassing an unrelated Michael Lombardi on Facebook, we've decided not to link to the original Twitter post.] New Jersey holds an annual bear hunt (which often extends into December) in an effort to cull the black bear population. In 2015, when this photograph was taken, more than 500 bears were killed during the hunt, according to NJ.com: Not only was this image circulated with the baseless claim that it showed a bear that was killed during hibernation, it was also passed around in certain circles attached to the rumor that President Trump had legalized such a killing: This rumor appears to be a misinterpretation of a piece of legislation Trump signed in April 2017 which nullified some federal protections for bears, wolves, and other predatory animals. Although the Trump administration eased restrictions on killing predatory animals, these changes only affected those in Alaska, not New Jersey, and the legislation did not make it legal for hunters to kill hibernating bears.
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