TALLAHASSEE, Fla. \u2014 Florida\u2019s first statewide black bear hunt in a decade is now more than a week underway, drawing intensifying criticism from conservation groups even as state wildlife officials defend the season as a science-based management tool. <\/p>\n
The hunt opened Dec. 6 after a Leon County judge denied an emergency injunction that would have stopped it. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) approved<\/a> 172 permits, arguing the limited hunt is needed to manage a growing bear population that has increasingly come into contact with people in some parts of the state. <\/p>\n Before a unanimous vote in August<\/a>, commissioners said agency biologists were confident the hunt would be sustainable.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the facts weren’t there to present this with options, you would not be presenting us with an option of hunting if it wasn’t there, correct?\u201d asked FWC Commissioner Rodney Barreto in August<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re very confident in the sustainability of this hunt,\u201d George Warthen, FWC Chief Conservation Officer, responded. <\/p>\n But groups monitoring the season say they have been shut out of basic information. Speak Up For Wildlife<\/a> is calling on FWC Executive Director Roger Young to halt the hunt, alleging widespread poaching beyond permitted limits and inadequate enforcement. <\/p>\n The group says it has filed multiple public-records requests seeking details such as how many bears have been killed, where they were taken, and whether females or cubs were involved. Their requests, it says, have gone unanswered. <\/p>\n “We’re totally in the dark\u2014 totally in the dark,\u201d said Chuck O\u2019Neal, President of Speak Up For Wildlife. \u201cThe FWC is stonewalling us. We make public records requests. They’re not answering the public records request. They’re not speaking to us about the reports of poaching that we have sent to them.\u201d<\/p>\n FWC has not released updated harvest numbers during the hunt. When asked for current figures, the agency told reporters to submit a public-records request, which has not yet been returned. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n State<\/p>\n Florida\u2019s 2025 bear hunt faces protests and high-stakes court battle<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n At the same time, the legal challenge to the hunt is moving forward. Bear Warriors United, which sued<\/a> to block the season, says the broader case will continue into 2026, despite the hunt being allowed to proceed this year.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re arguing that their actions are arbitrary and capricious, not based on sound science\u2014 or any science whatsoever,\u201d said Raquel Levy, attorney for plaintiffs. <\/p>\n FWC and hunting advocates counter that Florida voters approved a constitutional right to hunt last year<\/a>. They\u2019ve said regulated hunting remains a legitimate wildlife-management tool. <\/p>\n \u201cI think it’s very clear that we are doing the humane thing,\u201d said Luke Hilgemann, CEO of the International Order of T. Roosevelt. \u201cFlorida Wildlife Commission has the biologists, the experts, the science behind it, to say that it’s time for us to responsibly manage Florida’s bear population.\u201d <\/p>\n