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st. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Florida wildlife officials approved the first black bear hunt Wednesday 10 years ago after more than 300 bears were killed in just two days.
Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission voted 4-1 at a meeting in Ocala in support of bear hunting in December, making it the future every year, using up to six dogs to hunt down the bears. Methods include bow hunting similar to deer hunting rules and bear hunting in areas where food is available.
The final vote is scheduled for August.
Over 60 cats were rescued from the house.
Commission staff say the goal is to “start control of population growth” for around 4,000 bears in Florida. “Managing population growth is important to balancing species numbers with appropriate habitat and maintaining a healthy population,” the staff report said.
Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods, who held a meeting with the burgeoning county, said his office received 107 calls over the past nine months about his encounters with bears. Woods said he supports the hunt.
“We need to regulate, we need to regulate. We don’t just keep our citizens safe, we also keep our Florida citizens safe,” Woods told the committee.
Florida pointed out that it is one of six states with a critical black bear population that doesn’t allow it, prompting several hunters and representatives from the outdoor group to approve the hunt.
“Bears are a game type, and now is the time to do some level of bear hunting,” said Travistompson, executive director of the Florida Conservation Agency.
Opponents of the Hunt argue that there is no sufficient scientific evidence to justify killing bears, and the most rational approach is to persuade the constantly strolling development people in Florida to take other non-lethal steps to secure trash and limit human conflict.
“I beg you not to allow the massacre of these majestic animals in Florida,” said Leslie Carlisle, a partner whose family dates back to several generations in Florida. “In my opinion, trophy hunting is pure evil.”
The FWC has received more than 13,000 online comments about the proposal, with roughly three-quarters opposed. At Wednesday’s meeting, 170 people signed up to speak on both sides of the issue.
Hunt’s opponent, Janet Osborne, told the committee he would “take a step back” by approving the bear’s proposal.
“The problem is people’s overcrowding,” she said.
In particular, hunting advocates point to a deadly, fatal attack earlier this month with 89-year-old Robert Markel and his dog from the countryside of Collier County in southwestern Florida. Bears are also frequently found in habitat-rising areas, and even wandering around Disney World’s Magic Kingdom in 2023.
In the 2015 hunting, hunting permits led to a chaotic event that closed a few days earlier for anyone who could pay for them. More than 300 bears killed included at least 38 Cubs women. This means that the little bear is probably dead too.
This time, we’ll be drawing a random, restricted permission with a limit of 187. Hunters can kill only one bear each in certain areas of Florida where bear populations are large enough. According to FWC staff, there will be no one who will kill the Cubs or have the Cubs.
The permit costs $100 for Florida residents and $300 for non-residents.
The plan for 2025 is to hunt from December 6th to December 28th. In the future, the FWC will foresee bear hunting between October 1st and December 31st.
Private land owners over 5,000 acres (2,023 hectares) can hold what FWC calls the “Bear Harvest Program” on their property based on the proposal. Bears can hunt at feeding facilities on private property.
