Latest news with #bearhunt
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Capitol Report: State budget negotiations, Rowland's pardon, bear hunt
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — This week on Capitol Report, the panel discusses the ongoing negotiations as the state creeps closer towards approving a budget and President Trump's recent pardon of former Gov. John Rowland. Plus, the panel speaks on Sen. Chris Murphy's recent criticism of his own party. As bear season continues, lawmakers debate a controlled bear hunt and other proposed legislation. Finally, the panel remembers the Hartford Whalers, as 50 years have gone by since the team first took the ice in 1975. Watch the full video in the player above. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Washington Post
24-05-2025
- Washington Post
Florida approves first black bear hunt in a decade
OCALA, Fla. — Gail Zega recently stepped out to her carport on a quiet, moonless night and came face-to-face with a large black bear. There were no warning signs or noises as it scavenged through the trash it had dragged to her home in central Florida's Ocala National Forest. She unknowingly walked right up to the bear she said was 'having a picnic in my carport.' 'He was right there,' Zega said. 'I could feel his fur and smell his bad, hot breath.' The bear made a defensive move that experts call a 'bluff charge,' before they both backed away. The black bear soon left, and Zega later gave her neighbors straps they could use to lock down their garbage cans so they wouldn't attract more late-night visitors. The encounter didn't faze Zega, who works with Bear Warriors United, a nonprofit that advocates protection of Florida black bears. Now, she is protesting a state plan to hold a 'a highly regulated' black bear hunt. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on Wednesday approved a proposal that will allow the state to have its first bear hunt in a decade. (Black bears are the only wild bear species in the state.) The commission approved the plan in a 4-1 vote. It gives preliminary approval for Florida to hold a three-week hunt during which 187 black bears could be 'harvested.' The plan was approved weeks after what Florida officials said was the state's first confirmed fatal black bear attack, although the hunt proposal was made several months before the man's death. On May 5, the Collier County Sheriff's Office in southwest Florida received a call from relatives reporting Robert Markel, 89, missing from his home. There were signs on his property in rural Jerome of 'recent disturbances that could have been caused by a bear,' according to the commission. Markel's remains were found about 100 yards from his home. Officials said he and his dog had been killed by a 263-pound male black bear. Until that attack, Florida officials say there were fewer than 50 reported injuries from black bear interactions in the past five decades. Male black bears in Florida are known to typically avoid humans. But the state says reports of black bear activity are up, with 2,000 complaints last year, compared with 1,000 in 2005. The number of bears killed on Florida's highways also jumped last year, to 295 — more than double the number killed in 2005. Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said his county, home to a large portion of the Ocala National Forest, has grown so fast in the past decade that bear sightings have become almost commonplace. The forest is home to one of the largest black bear populations in the state. Woods, who supports the hunt, said bears have been seen near elementary schools and retirement communities. 'Two weeks ago, I personally came in contact with a bear in my backyard,' Woods said. 'Luckily for the bear, he decided to leave.' But opponents of the plan say bears are not to blame for human overdevelopment. They also took issue with some of the rules around the hunt, which they consider too aggressive. Most of the 168 speakers at the meeting opposed the hunt. An online survey conducted by the wildlife commission last week also found the plan to be unpopular. Of the more than 13,000 people who responded, 75 percent opposed the hunt and 23 percent supported it. Hanging over the vote was the memory of a 2015 state hunt that had to be halted after 304 bears were killed within 48 hours, including cubs and nursing females. The quota that year was 320 bears. 'One of the things that we kept hearing from the public was that it was a slaughter, this was trophy hunting at its best or whatever,' Commission Chairman Rodney Barreto said. 'How are we going to reassure the public?' With the exception of the 2015 event, Florida has not allowed bears to be hunted for more than 30 years. The Florida black bear was considered a threatened species from 1974 through 2012. The black bear population has since recovered and officials say there are about 4,050 in the wild statewide. 'We now have more bears than at any time in the last 100 years,' the wildlife commission's website says. Florida's black bear population has reached a 'sustainable' level, Morgan Richardson, director of hunting and game management for the commission, said at the meeting. 'Bears are a game species, it's a renewable resource, and there are plenty of bears to where we could harvest a certain number every year, and continue to have bears increase.' Still, speakers at the meeting objected to the plan allowing hunters' dogs to chase bears into trees and for the animals to be killed directly over bait stations. Wildlife biologists defended the methods as necessary to help hunters get close enough to the bears to tell the difference between males, which can weigh up to 350 pounds on average, and females, which usually weigh no more than 180 pounds. 'We heard from many people today that they didn't like seeing lactating bears or seeing cubs harvested,' Richardson said. 'We believe this is one way of seeing much less of that.' The plan for this year's hunt would allow people to self-report their kills — a change from the 2015 event during which hunters were required to bring the carcasses to check-in stations. Officials said hunters will be able to report the kills on their cellphones. 'That means no accountability,' said Susan Hargreaves, the founder of Animal Hero Kids, an animal rescue and education nonprofit based in Jupiter, Florida. 'People were at the check-in stations taking pictures in 2015 to show how bad it was, and now they want to hide it.' Hargreaves brought to the meeting a blown-up photo from the 2015 hunt of a dead mother bear and her cub in the back of a pickup truck. Dozens of hunters, dressed in blaze orange T-shirts, attended the meeting to support the plan. Some noted that most states allow bear hunting, including California. 'Bear is a game species. It's time for us to have some level of bear hunt,' said Travis Thompson, executive director at the All Florida conservation organization. But others argue that Floridians just need to learn to coexist with bears. Guy Marwick has lived on the border of the Ocala National Forest for a half century, and he said black bears are a frequent — and welcome — sight in his yard. 'I'll have a mother bear and cubs come up around the porch, just looking like they're playing,' Marwick said. 'We need to educate people on how to live with bears. We don't need to hunt them.'
E&E News
21-05-2025
- Politics
- E&E News
Florida wildlife panel moves forward with bear hunt plans
Florida wildlife officials voted Wednesday to take a major step toward holding the state's first bear hunt in a decade. Details: The state's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission voted 4-1 to consider rules in August that would allow 187 bears, or less than 5 percent of the estimated statewide population, to be killed in four zones. Commission members during their discussion didn't advocate for a hunt but asked whether they could return in August to make changes. They also raised concerns about the proposal allowing hunting over wildlife feeders. Advertisement 'It is a very conservative harvest we are looking at,' Morgan Richardson, the agency's director of hunting and game management, responded to the panel during the meeting in Ocala.
Associated Press
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Florida considers controversial black bear hunt amid strong opposition
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Ten years ago, Florida held a black bear hunt that resulted in more than 300 animals killed in just two days before it was halted early. It was controversial from the start and hasn't happened since — until possibly later this year amid strong opposition once again. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission met Wednesday in Ocala to consider a bear hunt for December and annually into the future, possibly allowing the use of up to six dogs to corner the bears. Methods could include bowhunting, similar to rules for hunting deer, and bear hunting in baited areas. The commission staff says the goal is to 'begin managing population growth' for bears, which number about 4,000 in Florida. 'Managing population growth is important to balance species numbers with suitable habitat and maintain a healthy population,' the staff report says. Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods, whose fast-growing county hosted the meeting, said his office has received 107 calls about bear encounters with humans over the past nine months — likely only a fraction of actual encounters because many rural residents don't report them. Woods said he supports the hunt. 'It needs to be regulated and it should be regulated. I think we keep not only our citizens safe but the state of Florida's citizens safe,' Woods told the commission. Several hunters and representatives of outdoors groups urged the commission to approve the hunt, noting Florida is one of only six states with significant black bear populations that does not allow it. 'Bear is a game species. It's time for us to have some level of bear hunt,' said Travis Thompson, executive director at the All Florida conservation organization. Hunt opponents contend there isn't enough scientific evidence to justify killing bears and that the most reasonable approach is to convince people in Florida's ever-sprawling developments to secure garbage and take other non-lethal steps to limit human-bear conflicts. 'I implore you to not allow the slaughter of these majestic animals we have in Florida,' said Leslie Carlile, an opponent whose family goes back several generations in Florida. 'Trophy hunting is pure evil in my opinion.' The FWC has received more than 13,000 online comments about the proposal, about three-quarters of them opposed. At Wednesday's meeting, 170 people signed up to speak on both sides of the issue. Hunt opponent Janet Osborne told the commission it would 'take a step backward' by approving the bear proposal. 'The problem is the overpopulation of people,' she said. A final decision on whether to hold the bear hunt is expected in August. Among other things, supporters of the hunt point to a black bear's extremely rare, fatal attack earlier this month on 89-year-old Robert Markel and his dog in a rural part of Collier County, in southwest Florida. Bears are also frequently seen in neighborhoods that stretch into their habitat, one even wandering onto Disney World's Magic Kingdom in 2023. In the 2015 hunt, hunting permits were for anyone who could pay for them, leading to a chaotic event that was shut down days early. The 300-plus bears killed then included at least 38 females with cubs, meaning the little bears probably died too. This time, the plan is to have a random, limited drawing of permits with a limit of 187. Hunters could kill only one bear each and only in certain parts of Florida where the bear population is large enough. There would be no killing of cubs and none of females with cubs, according to the FWC staff. A permit would cost $100 for a Florida resident and $300 for a nonresident. For 2025, the plan is to hold the hunt from Dec. 6 to Dec. 28. In the future, the FWC foresees a bear hunt between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, subject to more studies about the effect of hunting and the population of the animals. Private landowners with 5,000 acres (2,023 hectares) or more could hold what the FWC calls a 'bear harvest program' on their property under the proposal. Bears could be hunted at bait feeding stations on private property.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Editorial: Go after invasive reptiles, not native bears
We have a suggestion for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission when it meets later this month: Take all the documents, web pages and press releases commission staff have prepared for a potential bear hunt later this year, and do a search-and-replace command that swaps the phrase 'big invasive reptiles' for 'black bears.' It's a move that should be universally popular. Judging from the reaction so far, Floridians are just as disgusted at the idea of another mass slaughter of bears as they were the last time the FWC called for a statewide massacre. They probably won't feel the same revulsion to the idea of tracking down and eliminating the giant iguanas, pythons and Nile monitor lizards that are ravaging native animal populations and unnerving homeowners across an ever-widening range of territory. Is this speciesist? Maybe. But we don't see a need to get all 'woke' about it. After all, a statewide search-and-destroy mission might also do something to satiate state leaders' hunger to persecute immigrants. If it helps, we can Photoshop gang tattoos on their scaly hides. But seriously: FWC should tell staff to shift their focus when the commission meets May 21-22 in Ocala, with a presentation on the bear hunt on the agenda (It's scheduled for a final vote in August). Unlike the shambling bears, which many consider to be endearing and occupy a critical role as one of Florida's apex predators, the state's assortment of scaly invaders represent a significant threat to the ecological balance of their adopted state. Pythons were the first invasive reptile to gain attention, with scientists increasingly alarmed by their size — the snakes can grow to 20 feet in length, breed prodigiously and have voracious appetites. Then came the iguanas. Like pythons, they were known to be in the wild and breeding since the 1960s, but their population seems to have exploded in the last 10 years. They are herbivores, but they can ravage crops, presenting a serious threat to Florida's multi-billion-dollar produce industry. They are also hated for their ability to burrow under infrastructure such as seawalls, sidewalks and roads, causing considerable damage. One infestation nearly took out a critical dam in Palm Beach County last year. And now the Nile monitors are slithering onto the scene. The nicest thing we can say about these monsters, which can grow to six feet in length, is that they seem to have a taste for iguanas — and that for now, their population is counted in just the thousands, not the millions. The FWC will consider a new rule this month that allows Floridians to catch and sell iguanas out of state (which only seems to perpetuate the problem) and already sponsors a python hunt, with cash prizes ranging up to $10,000 for the person who catches the most. And it's legal to kill any of these invasive species as long as it's done humanely. But state leaders should do more to promote their eradication. One option: A photo op with state leaders chowing down on various reptiles, perhaps using some of the recipes the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently shared. Wouldn't it be more satisfying for hunters to go after species that actually present a problem? State officials should do everything in their power to encourage that mindset. And that's why they should be urging people to hunt reptiles, not bears. We understand why many Floridians might worry about bears. This week, in Southwest Florida, state officials recorded what they believe is the state's first ever human death from a bear encounter. It's likely we'll see more interaction between humans and bears as the bears lose habitat. However, there are simple steps that will keep the bears from encroaching on subdivisions and presenting a danger to humans. And in contrast to the damage invasive species wreak on Florida's ecosystem, danger from bears is minimal. Beyond that, the FWC should identify — and consider banning — any additional fish or reptile species that is currently sold in the state if it has the capacity to become a problem in the wild. (Pythons and iguanas are already banned.) Because these predators didn't get here by swimming across the Gulf of Mexico. They were brought here as pets, and then released by irresponsible owners. That spells out the final and perhaps most consequential difference between slaughtering bears and going after exotic speciet. The bears were here first. The reptiles arrived due to human intervention and carelessness. That's why humans should be encouraged to help eradicate them. The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Krys Fluker, Executive Editor Roger Simmons and Viewpoints Editor Jay Reddick. Contact us at insight@
