Latest news with #bearhunting
The Guardian
03-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘Barbaric': wildlife advocates criticize Florida bear hunt proposal
It's tough to be a bear in Florida these days, where only a year ago a Republican state congressman was accusing the ursine population of shooting up crack cocaine and trashing people's houses. Then came a controversial new law that allows anybody to shoot and kill any bear perceived as a threat without fear of consequences, which animal advocates say could be bad news for any creature that inadvertently wanders into a back yard. Now wildlife officials have advanced plans for a three-week hunt in December that could see the slaughter of almost 200 black bears, close to 5% of Florida's estimated total. It is a proposal opponents are calling a trophy hunt based on bloodlust, not science, that would reintroduce long outlawed 'barbaric' practices including bear baiting, chasing and cornering the animals with packs of dogs, and killing them with bows and arrows. 'It's open season. It's just 'let's use everything we have against the bears now'. It completely blows my mind,' said Adam Sugalski, founder of Bear Defenders, a member of an alliance of wildlife and environmental groups urging members of the Florida fish and wildlife conservation commission (FWC) to reverse course ahead of a final decision in August. 'They already pulled every protection. You can't get in trouble for killing a bear, it seems, and now there's this unregulated hunt. I just kind of feel for these poor souls in the woods with no protections any more, and then they're about to release the hounds on them.' For Sugalski, and other groups including the Sierra Club's Florida chapter, the Animal Legal Defense Fund, and Defenders of Wildlife, there is more to the story than just emotion. The FWC, they say, is using outdated and incomplete data of bear numbers to justify the hunt and falsely insist the killings are necessary as a conservation measure. By the commission's own admission, the most recent tally of Florida's black bear population – an estimated 4,050 – took place more than 10 years ago, and the FWC has never put a cap on numbers beyond noting how many bears would be too many for available habitat and other resources. 'This is a rich man's hunt. It's not science-based conservation,' said James Scott, former chapter chair of the Sierra Club of Florida and campaign coordinator of the advocacy group Speak Up Wekiva. 'If we got to where bear populations were clearly exceeding the carrying capacity of any given unit, with the negative effects that come with that, that would be justification, a science-based, conservation-based approach to hunting. But they haven't got anywhere near justifying that. 'Instead you have some characters who have worked really hard framing hunting as a conservation tool, and some folks who have ingratiated themselves with commissioners. You also have a commission appointed by the governor, and most of them are land developers. 'So there are powerful interests that have a financial interest in limiting the growth of the bear population.' Scott noted that the FWC's existing bear management plan, updated in 2019, did not propose the reintroduction of hunting, and stated that bears were still listed as a threatened species in Florida as recently as June 2012. 'Fortunately, the Florida black bear population is growing. We have more bears now than at any time in the last 100 years, but our conservation efforts are not finished,' the document said. Also fresh in campaigners' memories is the debacle of the most recent Florida hunt in 2015, a planned week-long event that ended prematurely when more than 3,200 hunters descended on the state and massacred almost 10% of the state's bear population within two days. The eventual death toll of 305 included mothers, cubs and numerous bears below 100lbs, all of which were supposed to be off-limits. Some hunters were found to have illegally baited their targets, and 112 bears were killed in 24 hours in a region of the Florida panhandle where the cap was set at 40. FWC abandoned plans for hunts in subsequent years, until the proposal came up again this year for a 23-day event in December. The hunt, which was given preliminary approval in a 4-1 vote at a commission meeting earlier this month, seeks to 'remove' 187 bears across four zones, and hunters will pay $300 for a permit ($100 for a Florida resident), plus a $5 application fee. A petition launched by Bear Defenders to oppose it has more than 40,000 signatures. Commission officials point to a frequently answered questions page on the FWC website that says why a new bear hunt is required. 'There is a finite amount of suitable bear habitat, so if bear populations continue to grow unchecked, at some point bears will have to start living in more marginal habitats, like neighborhoods,' it said. 'Regulated bear hunting adds a positive value on bears by providing people with additional economic and recreational opportunities. Hunters can use the meat, pelt, fat and other parts of the bear they harvest. In contrast to all other current management action options, regulated hunting generates funding for conservation.' Scott said that the meat argument in particular is spurious. 'That's bullshit. Nobody eats bear meat, it's greasy and not a fun meat to eat,' he said. 'You've got to think about the money and power of the folks that want to hunt bears. They're trophy hunters, the kind of guys that can afford to go to Africa and mow down cheetahs and giraffes and lions and stuff. Let's not kid ourselves here, these guys just want to have a head on a wall.'
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Is killing Florida bears a good way to control them?
Following Florida's first fatal bear attack this spring, there's little argument that the state's largest land mammal can be dangerous. But fierce debate persists over whether a good way to control bears is to kill them. A state plan to resume bear hunting after a decade-long hibernation has deepened the discord in advance of a pivotal meeting of Florida's Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, a seven-member board appointed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Supporters suggest thinning the bear population is a 'science-based' approach to wildlife management, while foes note the last hunt in 2015 was little short of a management disaster. The board meets Wednesday at the College of Central Florida in Ocala with options for an annual bear 'harvest,' the agency's term for a hunt, headlining the agenda. FWC has logged more than 13,000 public comments about the hunt — 75% in opposition. The Orlando Sentinel reviewed hundreds of emailed comments to gauge the disagreement, then interviewed some of their authors. 'We have lots of bears. I feel like they're definitely overpopulated in our area,' said Windy Johnson, 49, a school teacher and hunt proponent who lives on 100 acres in Wakulla County, south of Tallahassee. 'At certain times they're so bad, you can drive down any road on any day at any time and see them. Folks can't keep them out of their trash.' Hunt advocates suggest a limited bear season would deter run-ins between the animals and people. But bear defenders argue that people have encroached into bear habitat — not the other way around. Karen Murray, an Orlando resident who described herself as a hiker and wildlife lover in an email opposing the hunt, said bear-resistant trash containers have proven to be effective in thwarting bear incursions into neighborhoods. Employing that strategy, Seminole County has greatly diminished its state-leading number of bear-human encounters in recent years, even as conflicts have risen elsewhere in the state as bears have expanded their range. Murray urged FWC to focus on 'humane, non-lethal strategies.' Rules for Florida proposed bear hunt: 'It's going to be a massacre' Many opposed to the hunt were terse. 'Lets not kill them, please,' wrote Richard Baker, who chairs an Audubon chapter in Indian River County. 'Unneeded, unwanted, solve's nothing, stop the consideration of this (hunt),' read another. 'The last 'highly regulated' bear hunt resulted in cubs shot and mother bears shot. This is an unnecessary effort to sanction more unnecessary killings. NO,' wrote Carolyn Kieler of Deland. Pro-hunt emails called the state's black bear population 'unmanaged,' described it as 'well above the carrying capacity,' and blamed the rising bruin population for increased reports of conflicts and bear-vehicle collisions. Those emails — many using identical language — claimed about 2,700 bears have been killed by vehicles over the last decade. Some favoring a hunt cited the grisly death of an 89-year-old man, killed and partially eaten this month along with his dog by a 263-pound bear in Collier County in southwest Florida. FWC dubbed it the first fatal bear attack in Florida history. Brent Palmer, 53, who lived in 10 states while serving in the U.S. military, said he has hunted bear in three states, Colorado, Montana and New York, and frequently crosses paths with them while hunting in Florida's Panhandle. 'I am 100% behind science-based hunting, fishing, and trapping regulations that allow the proper balance between animal populations and harvesting without degrading those populations,' he said. 'I am for a regulated bear hunt and expect the FWC biologists to determine the best numbers of bears based on habitat and other factors.' But he also said Florida's last hunt was 'a debacle,' and he understands why the public might worry now. In 2015, 304 bears were killed in just two days after permits were distributed to anyone who paid. Amid the chaos, the state shut down the hunt five days early, fearful that the death toll would soar past the harvest limit of 320. Florida admits plan for December bear hunt, its first in a decade Under the proposed rules, permits would be issued this time through a random drawing. Eligible persons could apply an unlimited number of times, but each entry would cost $5. Only one 'bear harvest' permit would be awarded per person. A permit would cost $100 for a Florida resident, $300 for a non-resident. In public hearings last month, FWC staff suggested a target take of fewer than 200 bears. According to a document on the FWC agenda, George Warthen, the agency's chief conservation officer, will tell the board most U.S. states and Canadian provinces with black bears allow hunts 'and their populations are stable or increasing.' Of the six states that don't allow bear hunting, Florida is estimated to have the most bears, over 4,000. FWC divides the state into seven geographical bear management zones, but would allow hunting in just four, because the other three have fewer than 200 bears, including one estimated to have 98 and another with just 30. The Central zone, which includes Orange, Lake, Osceola and Seminole counties, has the largest estimated population of bears — nearly 1,200, by FWC's guess. A more precise survey of the region's bear population is to be conducted next year. As in 2015, the proposed bear hunting rules would forbid killing of cubs — defined as weighing less than 100 lbs — or females with cubs. Bear advocates insist hunters killed lactating female bears and bears qualified as cubs. The newly proposed rules don't include FWC check-in stations where hunters in 2015 were required to bring their kills. Those stations provided verification that bears were taken legally and were also monitored independently by animal-welfare volunteers, who were credited by environmental groups with helping to stop the hunt early. Instead of the stations, hunters would be required to provide details to the state within 24 hours of harvest. The corpses of harvested bears would be subject to inspection, but the rules don't clarify how that would happen. shudak@
