ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Florida wildlife officers gave preliminary approval Wednesday for the primary black bear hunt since one 10 years in the past that was halted early after greater than 300 bears have been killed in solely two days.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission voted 4-1 at a gathering in Ocala in favor of a bear hunt in December and yearly into the longer term, permitting using as much as six canines to nook the bears. Strategies might embrace bowhunting, just like guidelines for looking deer, and bear looking in baited areas.
A remaining vote is scheduled in August.
The fee workers says the objective is to “start managing inhabitants progress” for bears, which quantity about 4,000 in Florida. “Managing inhabitants progress is essential to stability species numbers with appropriate habitat and keep a wholesome inhabitants,” the workers report says.
Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods, whose fast-growing county hosted the assembly, mentioned his workplace has obtained 107 calls about bear encounters with people over the previous 9 months — possible solely a fraction of precise encounters as a result of many rural residents do not report them. Woods mentioned he helps the hunt.
“It must be regulated and it ought to be regulated. I feel we preserve not solely our residents secure however the state of Florida’s residents secure,” Woods advised the fee.
A number of hunters and representatives of out of doors teams urged the fee to approve the hunt, noting Florida is considered one of solely six states with vital black bear populations that doesn’t permit it.
“Bear is a recreation species. It’s time for us to have some degree of bear hunt,” mentioned Travis Thompson, govt director on the All Florida conservation group.
Hunt opponents contend there isn’t sufficient scientific proof to justify killing bears and essentially the most affordable method is to persuade folks in Florida’s ever-sprawling developments to safe rubbish and take different non-lethal steps to restrict human-bear conflicts.
“I implore you to not permit the slaughter of those majestic animals we now have in Florida,” mentioned Leslie Carlile, an opponent whose household goes again a number of generations in Florida. “Trophy looking is pure evil in my view.”
The FWC has obtained greater than 13,000 on-line feedback concerning the proposal, about three-quarters of them opposed. At Wednesday’s assembly, 170 folks signed as much as communicate on either side of the difficulty.
Hunt opponent Janet Osborne advised the fee it will “take a step backward” by approving the bear proposal.
“The issue is the overpopulation of individuals,” she mentioned.
Amongst different issues, supporters of the hunt level to a black bear’s extraordinarily uncommon, fatal attack earlier this month on 89-year-old Robert Markel and his canine in a rural a part of Collier County, in southwest Florida. Bears are additionally often seen in neighborhoods that stretch into their habitat, one even wandering onto Disney World’s Magic Kingdom in 2023.
Within the 2015 hunt, looking permits have been for anybody who might pay for them, resulting in a chaotic occasion that was shut down days early. The 300-plus bears killed then included a minimum of 38 females with cubs, which means the little bears in all probability died too.
This time, the plan is to have a random, restricted drawing of permits with a restrict of 187. Hunters might kill just one bear every and solely in sure components of Florida the place the bear inhabitants is giant sufficient. There could be no killing of cubs and none of females with cubs, in accordance with the FWC workers.
A allow would price $100 for a Florida resident and $300 for a nonresident.
For 2025, the plan is to carry the hunt from Dec. 6 to Dec. 28. Sooner or later, the FWC foresees a bear hunt between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, topic to extra research concerning the impact of looking and the inhabitants of the animals.
Personal landowners with 5,000 acres (2,023 hectares) or extra might maintain what the FWC calls a “bear harvest program” on their property below the proposal. Bears could possibly be hunted at bait feeding stations on personal property.
