Opponents push to stop bear hunt

Jim Turner
News Service of Florida

Opponents of Florida’s first black bear hunt in a decade rallied Monday at the Capitol amid efforts to prevent bears from being killed next month in four areas of the state.
In addition to the rally, opponents say they have obtained about 40 of the 172 permits that wildlife officials decided to issue for the hunt. They say those permits will go unused. Also, a Leon County circuit judge next week will hear arguments as the group Bear Warriors United seeks a temporary injunction to halt the hunt.
Sierra Club Florida on Monday brought about 100 people to the Capitol for the rally as part of a long-shot request to get Gov. Ron DeSantis to use his executive powers to stop the hunt, which is scheduled from Dec. 6 to Dec. 28. Buses came from Orlando, Jacksonville, Daytona Beach, and Gainesville.
“We want to be known for sunshine and beaches, not the killing of our impaired endangered species here,” Bobbie Lee Davenport of the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida said. “The science is not there. The conservation objectives are not there. This (the hunt) is pandering to special interests, plain and simple.”
DeSantis’ office didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. The governor hasn’t publicly questioned the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s plans for the bear hunt.
Also, in September, when DeSantis announced a sales-tax “holiday” on guns, ammunition, and accessories, he stood before a scowling stuffed grizzly bear, its claws extended, at G FIVE Feed & Outdoor in Plant City.
“There are enough voices. We just need a governor that’s going to listen to those voices,” Katrina Shadix of Bear Warriors United said Monday. “Eighty percent of Floridians are against the Florida black bear hunt. And this should have never gotten as far as it has.”
The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission voted in August to approve the hunt — the first since 2015. The commission used a lottery-style system to grant permits, with each permit-holder able to kill one bear.
Opponents of the hunt contend that the commission’s approval was not based on sound science and used outdated bear population estimates. Leon County Circuit Judge Angela Dempsey has scheduled a Nov. 24 hearing in the lawsuit filed by Bear Warriors United.
In addition to considering the group’s request for a temporary injunction to halt the hunt, Dempsey will take up a motion by the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to dismiss the case.
Commission attorneys have argued that Bear Warriors United is asking the court to “encroach upon the commission’s constitutionally derived authority to manage wildlife within the state.” The attorneys also disputed arguments that the commission did not follow scientific data in approving the hunt.
“The commission has determined that the black bear’s population has expanded in several areas, resulting in an increased presence of bears outside of suitable bear habitats, which is compounded by human population growth and expansion,” the commission’s motion said. “Stabilizing the bear population through a limited hunt will enable the commission to maintain bears at appropriate population levels in suitable habitats across those four regions of the state, thereby enhancing the long-term survival potential of the species.”
The hunt will be held in the Apalachicola region west of Tallahassee; in areas west of Jacksonville; in an area north of Orlando; and in the Big Cypress region southwest of Lake Okeechobee.
Bear hunting has long been controversial in Florida. The commission initially planned to issue 187 permits this year, but reduced the number after a revision in the quota in the area north of Orlando. Permits cost $100 for Florida residents and $300 for non-residents.
Susannah Randolph of Sierra Club Florida said hunt opponents submitted about 163,000 applications for chances to secure permits. The applications cost $5 each.
Florida is estimated to have more than 4,000 black bears, which have drawn attention in some parts of the state because of interactions with humans in residential areas.
Opponents of the hunt have called for the state to use non-lethal measures, such as bear-proofing garbage cans, to reduce conflicts between people and bears foraging for food. But many hunters have backed holding the hunt.