For the upcoming Florida black bear hunt, more than 160,000 chances in the lottery were purchased for $5 each, for just 172 permits statewide. Led by Speak Up Wekiva, the Sierra Club, and other environmental groups, thousands of bear hunt opponents bought chances and believe they have secured between 40 and 50 permits that won’t be used to hunt bears.The last hunt was conducted in 2015 and lasted just two days, when the quota was met. “It was worth it to me if I could save a bear’s life,” said Arlene Marie of Orlando in an interview with WESH 2 News. She spent $200 on 40 lottery chances and landed one of the permits for the south “Bear Harvest Zone.” She says with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is still doing deep research into the exact bear population statewide for another four to five years. So the hunt, in her view, is not justified, adding, “Science was ignored. The people’s will was ignored, when the decision was made to conduct the hunt. And this is why I chose to participate, and it’s a tragedy. It’s just a tragedy.” “Every bear we manage to pull off the kill list is a good thing,” said Thomas Allison of Ocala. He was a beat hunt monitor in 2015, and recalls cubs and lactating females being killed. A disaster, he says, that he wants to help prevent this time. So he bought more than $600 worth of bear hunt lottery tickets, and landed a permit for the central Florida hunt, which he will not use or share. He thinks the state should delay the current hunt until it finishes its current population study, adding, “They’re (the FWC’s) current scientists said hey our bear population study won’t be done until 2030. And I’m a science guy, so I believe we should stop and wait and see what the bear population is like when they finish their study. Glad I could save a bear (this year) but knowing that next year they’ll probably change the quota and change the game on us again.” A WESH 2 review of the available state numbers shows that while the bear population rose 50% from 2002 to 2015, in the last decade it’s grown by less than 1%. And a further review shows statewide complaints of bears being a threat or a nuisance are down from 2,963 in 2015 to 2,104 last year, or 29% The hunt will take place in four regions of the state called bear management units, now split into harvest zones, on both private and public lands. That includes the Seminole Forest near Rock Springs Run. “If they choose not to use their lottery permit, that’s fine,” said Lane Stephens, a lobbyist for the Florida State Dog Hunters Association. Hunting with canines won’t be permitted until 2027 at the earliest but many of the association members are hunters who have or are trying to secure permits to hunt this year. Stephens says the FWC will simply add to the number of available permits next year, if opponents of the hunt continue to try and interfere. Stephens said the state could require permit applicants to have a hunting license for more than just a few weeks. He added, “If I had had my druthers, I would have said you cannot apply for a permit without having a hunter’s license for the last three years or five years, so that it would weed out some of these people who are just playing games.” Opponents insist, saving these animals’ lives is no game. Among those opponents is the group Bear Warriors United, which has filed suit in Circuit Court Leon County to stop the hunt. No hearing date has been set. The hunt is scheduled Dec. 6-28.
For the upcoming Florida black bear hunt, more than 160,000 chances in the lottery were purchased for $5 each, for just 172 permits statewide.
Led by Speak Up Wekiva, the Sierra Club, and other environmental groups, thousands of bear hunt opponents bought chances and believe they have secured between 40 and 50 permits that won’t be used to hunt bears.
The last hunt was conducted in 2015 and lasted just two days, when the quota was met.
“It was worth it to me if I could save a bear’s life,” said Arlene Marie of Orlando in an interview with WESH 2 News. She spent $200 on 40 lottery chances and landed one of the permits for the south “Bear Harvest Zone.”
She says with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is still doing deep research into the exact bear population statewide for another four to five years. So the hunt, in her view, is not justified, adding, “Science was ignored. The people’s will was ignored, when the decision was made to conduct the hunt. And this is why I chose to participate, and it’s a tragedy. It’s just a tragedy.”
“Every bear we manage to pull off the kill list is a good thing,” said Thomas Allison of Ocala. He was a beat hunt monitor in 2015, and recalls cubs and lactating females being killed. A disaster, he says, that he wants to help prevent this time. So he bought more than $600 worth of bear hunt lottery tickets, and landed a permit for the central Florida hunt, which he will not use or share.
He thinks the state should delay the current hunt until it finishes its current population study, adding, “They’re (the FWC’s) current scientists said hey our bear population study won’t be done until 2030. And I’m a science guy, so I believe we should stop and wait and see what the bear population is like when they finish their study. Glad I could save a bear (this year) but knowing that next year they’ll probably change the quota and change the game on us again.”
A WESH 2 review of the available state numbers shows that while the bear population rose 50% from 2002 to 2015, in the last decade it’s grown by less than 1%. And a further review shows statewide complaints of bears being a threat or a nuisance are down from 2,963 in 2015 to 2,104 last year, or 29%
The hunt will take place in four regions of the state called bear management units, now split into harvest zones, on both private and public lands. That includes the Seminole Forest near Rock Springs Run.
“If they choose not to use their lottery permit, that’s fine,” said Lane Stephens, a lobbyist for the Florida State Dog Hunters Association. Hunting with canines won’t be permitted until 2027 at the earliest but many of the association members are hunters who have or are trying to secure permits to hunt this year.
Stephens says the FWC will simply add to the number of available permits next year, if opponents of the hunt continue to try and interfere. Stephens said the state could require permit applicants to have a hunting license for more than just a few weeks.
He added, “If I had had my druthers, I would have said you cannot apply for a permit without having a hunter’s license for the last three years or five years, so that it would weed out some of these people who are just playing games.”
Opponents insist, saving these animals’ lives is no game.
Among those opponents is the group Bear Warriors United, which has filed suit in Circuit Court Leon County to stop the hunt. No hearing date has been set.
The hunt is scheduled Dec. 6-28.