The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is scheduled to consider rules for a Florida black bear hunt to take place in December and in years to come.
It's on the agenda for Wednesday as the commission holds a two-day meeting in Ocala.
The FWC proposal includes a $5 lottery for a permit to kill a bear, with unlimited applications but only one permit per adult. The plan has four specific hunting zones -- in the eastern Panhandle area, north Florida, Central Florida and South Florida -- with a quota for each, along with tagging and reporting requirements.
The agency would set the number to be hunted each year based on bear population, growth rate, management objectives and bear deaths from other causes. This year the number is 187.
The Central Florida area, even though it has the most bears, has the lowest growth rate because so many mama bears and cubs are killed on the highways. Its 10-year average annual growth rate is only 2.2%
So the quota for permits in Central Florida would be capped at 18 this year.
The commission will also consider bear hunting with dogs and near game feeding stations and permits for tracts of private land of 5,000 acres or more.
The agency is asking the commission to decide on the rules before a final vote at a meeting in August.
Opposition to the bear hunt
Environmental groups have been outspoken in opposing the proposed bear hunt. It would be the first in 10 years. In 2015, 304 bears were killed, and the hunt was shut down after two days.
The FWC reports that 75% of public input about the bear hunt has been opposed to it.
In justifying the hunt, a staff presentation for the meeting says there are "multiple indicators showing that bears are stable and increasing statewide." The presentation says, "A science-informed approach could use hunting as a tool to manage the growth rates in Bear Management Units with the largest subpopulations."
It calls hunting "an important and effective method that is used to manage wildlife across the world."
The Sierra Club Florida, in opposing the hunt, says there is no scientific basis and bear populations don't exceed their habitat's capacity. It says that human-bear conflicts are preventable.
"These conflicts are primarily driven by human encroachment into bear habitats — not by an overpopulation of bears," the club says on a webpage devoted to the issue. "Education, better waste management, and habitat protection are the real solutions."
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