New bear hunt proposal to go before Florida wildlife commisssion

The FWC meeting will be held in the small Panhandle town of Eastpoint – where two bear attacks have occurred in the past two years. He said, “If they continue down on this path, in my personal opinion, knowing the woods the way i know them, we could lose the florida black bear in our lifetime”.

– The Animal Rights Foundation of Florida is fighting against the idea of a controversial bear hunt. But commissioners, who voted 5-1 to reinstate bear season, defended hunting as a “proven, successful management tool” to keep the state’s largest native land mammal in check.

FWC raked in more than $350,000 with its unlimited sale of bear licenses. Of more than 40,000 comments sent to the FWC before the 2015 hunt, 75 percent opposed it. Of those, there were 238 calls for bears getting into people’s garbage.

The parameters of a proposed second bear hunt in Florida in as many decades are beginning to emerge.

Seminole and Volusia counties have publicly objected to continuing the hunt.

The staff recommendation would impose additional rules against hunting near game-feeding stations and would prohibit killing bears if other bears, including cubs are nearby. It estimates there are over 4,300 adult black bears in Florida.

By the Florida wildlife agency’s own accounting, about 40,000 people voiced an opinion about the proposed hunt previous year with about 75 percent against it.

Almost 3,800 permits were sold to kill 320 bears past year, and 304 were killed.

Now fish and wildlife officials will consider proposals for another hunt Wednesday.

By 7:30 a.m., the bear had climbed a tree at 4213 E Linebaugh Ave and police were awaiting an animal expert to arrive and tranquilize it.

-Kate MacFall is the Florida state director for The Humane Society of the United States.