FWC approves bear hunt harvest quota

While the black bear population was all but eliminated in the 20th century, it recovered.

State wildlife workers have determined that hunters will be able to target 320 black bears next month for the upcoming bear-hunt season.

“Some of this updated data is based on DNA”. Smith says, “Hunters are conservationists. When man is removed from the natural habitat bears will sooner or later become overpopulated”. Some panther advocates argued the commissions move is a step toward allowing the endangered animals to eventually be hunted like bears.

Others pointed to states like Maine, which instituted similar hunt protocol that Florida will, banning bear-baiting and chase dogs. One year from now. The bear population has finally begun to rebound. She said any harvest limits could be arbitrary if trophy hunters flood Florida’s wooded areas on the first weekend of the season and exceed the limits before officials can stop the hunt. You are selling an unlimited number of permits to kill black bears…. “We have to be responsible, all of us”. “Without the science of a full, completed population study, a hunt is unjustifiable”. The FWC says it made a decision to cap the number of bears being harvested instead of the number of potential hunters. For example, exotic invasive wildlife like wild hogs and Burmese pythons that destroy our native ecosystems need to be trapped and hunted.

Eason said bears are “secretive” and not easy to find. “They are natural inhabitants of Florida, and they are bright, intelligent mammals that occupied this land before people did”.

For instance, in the “south” region, which is a seven-county area running south from a line drawn north of Fort Myers across the state to the northern border of Palm Beach County, there are an estimated 700 bears.

A crowd of roughly 200 gathered at Wednesday’s Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission meeting to discuss the controversial hunt that has garnered significant media attach.

A split Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission approved quota numbers that represent about 10 percent of the bear population in four regions of the state — there are seven regions — where the hunt will be allowed.

“This is a tragic day for Florida’s wildlife and for millions of Floridians who love nature and want to protect our state’s wildlife”, he said.

Albert Bryan, a hunter who spoke in favor of the hunt, told the commission that its critics were misinformed and speaking from emotion, not facts, about the role humans must play in managing the environment.

The plan to allow the hunting of bears in Florida came after more bears started showing up in people’s neighborhoods and there were attacks on people and pets.

Many Floridians are divided over the issue of shooting that backyard bear.

Smith believes the number of bears in Florida is too high. Only through education, fines for those who feed bears, and protecting environmentally sensitive lands will bears be managed effectively. “The solution for the conflict is bear-proof cans”.

Only one percent of bear-related calls to the FWC concerned a threat to human safety, and even then attacks are rare.

“In my opinion I don’t think they should kill the bear”.