When the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission approved the state’s first official black bear hunt in a decade, many Floridians were aghast — already mourning 172 bears the FWC had designated for slaughter in a hunt scheduled for December.
But they rallied and fought back with a barrage of $5 bills that could protect dozens of otherwise-doomed bears. A coalition of environmental groups pooled money to buy entries into a state-run lottery that determines who got permits to kill bears.
Under state rules for handing out permits, potential hunters could submit an application and a $5 fee, with the state determining who got one of the coveted toe-tags ($100 for residents, $300 for those from out-of-state).
Of the 160,000 $5 applications, advocates are sure that at least 30,000 were submitted by non-hunters. Donors also chipped in money to defray the cost of helping winners who couldn’t afford their “spare a bear” permits.
Animal Rights Foundation of Florida rally peacefully protesting against the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s proposal to hunt the Florida black bear in Orlando, Fla., Saturday, May 17, 2025. (Willie J. Allen Jr./Orlando Sentinel)
Chuck O’Neal, representing the Central Florida conservation organization Speak Up Wekiva, said at least 39 permits were won by people with absolutely no intention whatsoever of killing a bear.
That does not include like-minded people who decided to enter the contest on their own but don’t plan to join the hunt.
The official tally of spared, cared-for bears can only grow.
The state wrapped up a second-chance round with 24 permits, awarded in the first round, thrown back into the pot. And if there are still unclaimed permits left, a third drawing will be held.
This might seem like a minor rebellion: At most, advocates can hope to save 25% to 30% of the bears that were to be killed in December.
And under the policy adopted by the FWC, this hunt will reoccur yearly until official estimates of the bears’ numbers show a marked decline. Many advocates suspect that the FWC will use this year’s protest buys as a way to increase the quota of bears that can be killed next year.
We don’t see how the wildlife commission can legitimately do that and still maintain the flimsy pretense that this bear hunt is based on science. Admittedly, the available evidence for this year’s hunt was skimpy, but wrapping the potential intentions of bear-saving non-hunters into any equation seems almost impossible.
In the meantime, the fact that more than 30,000 Floridians were upset enough about this bear hunt to throw $5 into the pot, and take on the cost of a potential permit win, sends a strong message to Florida’s elected officials. Whether they will hear it is another question.
This is more than just a snapback — it’s an act of organized and coordinated mischief, meant to gum up the works of a state agency created to preserve wildlife that has lost its way.
It may not seem like much: 30,000 protest permits, in a state of 23 million people.
But it shows that Floridians care so much about protecting wildlife that many of them had the gumption to spend $5 to stop a cruel hunt — and that some unknown number of this state’s residents still carry that flame of hope that they can make a difference against unjust acts of their government, one $5 bill, one bear and one vote at a time.
The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Opinion Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman, and Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.