{"id":58656,"date":"2025-11-24T11:39:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T11:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/58656\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T11:39:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T11:39:10","slug":"last-ditch-effort-to-stop-floridas-bear-hunt-orlando-sentinel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/58656\/","title":{"rendered":"Last-ditch effort to stop Florida\u2019s bear hunt \u2013 Orlando Sentinel"},"content":{"rendered":"

With Florida\u2019s first bear hunt in a decade just two weeks away, opponents say they\u2019ve used a combination of tactics to protect bears from bullets \u2014 and are heading to court Monday in Tallahassee hoping to persuade a judge to stop the shooting altogether.<\/p>\n

Bear Warriors United, a Central Florida-based, not-for-profit group, sued the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission in September, about a month after the state wildlife agency governing board green-lighted a limited, annual winter hunt of bears, Florida\u2019s largest land mammal.<\/p>\n

Bear hunt foes also say they have claimed about 45 of the 172 bear permits FWC issued through a lottery system. Those 45 \u201ctags\u201d entitling the holder to take one bear will go unused,<\/a> they say, reducing the total harvest by more than one-quarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 45 includes one hunter who signed an agreement not to use his permit for a fee because he was short of cash to pay bills,\u201d said Steve Rosen, a South Florida businessman who calls himself a \u201crescuer.\u201d The hunter, he added, \u201cwill remain anonymous as will the amount I paid him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bear Warriors United, represented by Volusia county attorney Raquel Levy, has asked Circuit Judge Angela Dempsey seated in Leon County for a temporary injunction to halt the hunt, which Fish & Wildlife officials have termed a \u201charvest,\u201d set for Dec. 6 through Dec. 28.<\/p>\n

An FWC spokesperson said the 172 bear-hunt permits include 18 to kill a bear in the Central Florida hunting zone<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lawyers for FWC have argued in court filings that Bear Warriors\u2019 long-shot plea should fail because the wildlife agency\u2019s commissioners \u201crelied on substantial science and experience to inform its decision that the Florida black bear population could sustain a hunt.\u201d The agency estimates Florida\u2019s bear population at over 4,000, and says it will calculate each year how many can be harvested.<\/p>\n

Asking for a dismissal, the FWC said it had \u201cdetermined that the black bear\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Agency officials estimate bear populations in four of its seven multi-county \u201cbear management units\u201d are home to at least 200 bears with Central Florida boasting the most \u2014 about 1,200 in a region that includes Orange, Lake, Marion, Seminole and Volusia counties.<\/p>\n

Hunting is not allowed in any of the three regions with fewer than 200 bears.<\/p>\n

Outside of those limits, the state is right to permit a limited hunt of its bears as a tool for managing the species\u2019 growth, said Maria Davidson, who heads the large carnivore program for the pro-hunting group, Safari Club International, which will assist FWC with its defense.<\/p>\n

Florida black bears were classified by the state wildlife agency as a threatened species from 1974, when the estimated numbers of bruins dwindled to a few hundred, until 2012. Their rebound is often touted by Fish & Wildlife and its supporters as a success story.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut once bear populations have recovered to a certain extent, they, just like all other wildlife populations, need to be managed at suitable numbers within suitable habitat,\u201d Davidson said in a phone interview, asserting a harvest will help keep bears within their core habitats.<\/p>\n

Rules for Florida proposed bear hunt: \u2018It\u2019s going to be a massacre\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Arguing against the hunt, Levy dismissed the notion that Florida has too many bears.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf people are seeing more bears, people intuitively might say there must be a rapidly increasing number of bears,\u201d she said. \u201cBut that\u2019s not the case. Development is shrinking their habitat and so the bears that we\u2019re seeing are dying off because they have nowhere to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opponents are hopeful they will prevail in court or at least spur Gov. Ron DeSantis to intervene, said Susannah Randolph, chapter director of Sierra Club Florida, which brought bus loads of bear advocates to Tallahassee last week for a rally on the issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s always hope as long as you\u2019re fighting,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The governor, who appointed the Fish & Wildlife commissioners, hasn\u2019t publicly questioned the agency\u2019s plans for the bear hunt.<\/p>\n

But in September, when DeSantis staged a press conference to announce a sales-tax \u201choliday\u201d on guns, ammunition and other hunting accessories, the governor stood in front of a scowling stuffed grizzly bear, its claws extended, at G FIVE Feed & Outdoor in Plant City.<\/p>\n

He should care about what the public thinks, foes of the hunt said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are enough voices. We just need a governor that\u2019s going to listen to those voices,\u201d said Katrina Shadix, founder of Bear Warriors United. \u201cEighty percent of Floridians are against the Florida black bear hunt. And this should have never gotten as far as it has.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hunt was approved in the wake of the state\u2019s first confirmed fatal bear attack. A bear mauled 89-year-old Robert Markel who was found in May about 100 yards from his home in Collier County in southwest Florida near Naples. The bear also killed Markel\u2019s dog.<\/p>\n

Hunting foes argue the state can curb dangerous interactions between people and bears with better education and with non-lethal measures, including bear-proofing garbage cans to deter bears from wandering into neighborhoods to forage in trash for food.<\/p>\n

Bear-resistant containers have proven to be an effective deterrent in Seminole County, once a hub for human-bear clashes.<\/p>\n

But many hunters nonetheless support the opportunity to take a shot at a bear.<\/p>\n

The 2015 hunt, scheduled for seven days in October, was open to anyone who applied for a bear-hunting license but was shut down after just two days as eager hunters killed 304 bears, including juvenile bears and lactating sows that were supposed to be off limits.<\/p>\n

The harvest limit was 320 bears.<\/p>\n

Rules for the upcoming hunt are intended to limit killing of female bears, said George Warthen, FWC\u2019s chief conservation officer. He noted December is when most female bears, especially those pregnant or caring for cubs, tend to be denning while males are more active.<\/p>\n

shudak@orlandosentinel.com<\/p>\n

This article was written with information contributed by The News Service of Florida.<\/p>\n

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