Latest Headlines
- Cottage Hill Man Charged With Threatening To Kill Local Magistrate
- Five WaWa Stores In The Works For Escambia County. Here’s The List.
- Scattered Storms Likely Again Today
- Motorcyclist Critical After Jacks Branch Road Crash
- FDOT Plans Traffic Shift Thursday In Century Highway 29 Construction Zone
- Molino Man Charged With Throwing Object, Breaking Windshield Of Passing Car
- North Escambia Athletes Place In USA Volleyball Beach National Championships
- Santa Rosa Sheriff Issues Contractor Fraud Alert After Arrest
- Escambia Man Gets 10 Years On Firearms And Financial Racketeering Charges
- New Name, Same Fish: Largemouth Bass Are Now Florida Bass
Bill Would Block Black Bear Hunts
March 2, 2017
Black bears couldn’t be hunted in Florida for a decade, while at least $1 million would be set aside so more people could purchase bear-resistant trash containers, under a measure filed Tuesday in the Senate.
The proposal (SB 1304) by Sen. Linda Stewart, D-Orlando, also seeks to regulate burn schedules in state forests and parks to allow for the regrowth of oak trees, saw palmettos and other berry-producing plants that feed black bears.
“It is our obligation to ensure the preservation of the iconic species as well as the safety of our neighborhoods,” Stewart said in a prepared statement.
During the moratorium, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission would have to conduct a 5-year population trend study of black bears, which includes an impact of hunting. The bill is part of the continued reaction to a black-bear hunt in October 2015 in which 304 bears were killed. The hunt was the first in the state in two decades.
Supporters have argued that hunting is one way to manage bear populations and to reduce potentially dangerous bear-human interactions. The commission, which voted against holding a bear hunt in 2016 to focus on non-lethal means to reduce bear-human interactions, has not discussed plans for a hunt this year.
In 2016, the agency spread $825,000 across 12 counties to help reduce the potential for conflicts between Florida’s bear and human populations by helping residents and businesses acquire bear-resistant trash cans. Stewart’s bill, similar to a House proposal (HB 491) filed in early February by Rep. Amy Mercado, D-Orlando, would prohibit the recreational hunting of Florida black bears until July 1, 2027.
Comments
11 Responses to “Bill Would Block Black Bear Hunts”
Hunting black bears should never be legal, they are too scarce already. Black bears rarely ever hurt anyone. Should you shoot and kill a dog or a human who gets in your trash can?
There shouldn’t be a yearly bear hunt just for the sake of a bear hunt. Good stewardship should dictate that when their numbers start to pose a danger to both humans and their own kind, then a measured hunt should be allowed.
I would be curious to see what the numbers are now as compared to before the last hunt to make sure we aren’t going overboard with either the hunt itself or the anti-hunt PETA type ban.
Keep the numbers as stable as possible and don’t swing too far in either direction. The bears will suffer from over hunting, both the bears AND humans will suffer from not hunting at all.
Will you be the next person mauled while putting your trash in your bear-proof trashcan next year, or the year after, or in year 2020?
Wildlife cannot be stockpiled…no matter how much you bunny-huggers want to look at ‘em and have them around you.
Why don’t you Floridians let FWC & the state wildlife biologists do their jobs and properly manage the bear population?
Seems like most of ya’ll are more concerned about the bear’sites quality of death than quality of life!
I ALSO AGREE WITH JAY..IT IS JUST COMMON SENSE…WE NEED TO .DO ALL WE CAN TO PROTECT ALL WILDLIFE..THAT IS WHY WE CHOSE TO LIVE IN NW FLA..WE ARE BLESSED WITH ABUNDANT WILDLIFE AND MOST OF US ENJOY FISHING , CAMPING , AND HUNTING..I SAW MY LAST FLA. PANTHER NEAR BARRINEAU PARK IN FEB. OF 1962..WHAT AN AMAZING SIGHT..I DON’T WANT TO SEE ANY MORE OF OUR WILDLIFE DISAPPEAR FROM OUR FOREST..
Please save these beautiful animals.They deserve to live.
Bear in the picture shows obviously that it is getting into trash.
This is not natural behavior, humans have encroached upon natural habitat and forced the Bears to look for whatever food is available. Since the dawn of mankind, it has been natural to hunt for sustenance. In order to reduce human conflict with nature animal populations must be controlled. Legalized hunting is obviously the very best way to achieve this. Unless some of you anti-hunters think it best to control human population growth.!
This must be Jay day. We are all in agreement. If someone built a house in my backyard I’d be looking for snacks too. 10 years seems like a long time. I always cry when they kill the mother of cubs because she was in a neighborhood which used to be her home.
FWC has been putting aside sound wildlife studies for political appeasement to the fringe anti hunting, anti gun crowd.
Like most animals deer destroying thousands of dollars of crops, bears only have one natural enemy = vehicles.
These protesters put no value on human life.
Just how comfortable can people with small children be letting their children play outside with bears roaming freely through their property?
This problem with bears has at least two sides;
One is the huge influx of new residents with housing being built in places where bears live.
The other is the bear population has been allowed to increase unchecked for years.
The FWC’s number count of bears is seriously flawed. Their count is much lower than many of us that actually get out of town know. We do not need a degree in wildlife biology to reconise a bear, track, scat or see a cabbage palm ripped apart for the heart to know that bears are in an area.
Spending $1,825,000 for bear proof trash cans is only a bandade fix at best. The state sholud make money selling licenses instead of this costly use of our tax dollars.
I agree with Jay.
I agree with Jay 100%, just learn to live with them and enjoy them from a safe spot.
I know not all do but most people keep moving farther into the animals habitat.. what are they animals suppose to do? you see all these people complain because there’s a alligator swimming in the river near them.. Who’s home is the river? People need to learn what wildlife is in that area before they move there and learn ways to except they are there,, I believe in hunting not useless killing