Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Activists to state: Don’t allow bear hunt in 2017
Florida’s wildlife commissioners will meet today for an update on the state’s black bears, but animal protection groups fear the discussion will lead to a hunt.
“Floridians don’t want another hunt,” said Kate MacFall of the Florida chapter of the Humane Society of the United States, one of the groups planning to speak up at the Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission meeting near Tallahassee.
There were 304 bears killed in the last hunt, staged in 2015, before it was halted two days into the weeklong season.
Thomas Eason, a wildlife biologist nicknamed “Dr. Bear” by FWC commissioners, said his presentation won’t include anything specific about another hunt, but the topic is always raised during public comment.
An agenda item on the commission’s website describes the scheduled discussion as an update that will touch on “bear populations, habitat conservation, conflict-management efforts, and public outreach” over the past year.
Six months after the 2015 hunt, FWC announced results of a long-awaited bearpopulation survey. It described the species as “strong, robust and growing.”
The count, conducted before the hunt, estimated the state had 4,350 bears, up about 60 percent from 2002 when the agency last tallied the number of bears in Florida.
Florida black bears are a unique subspecies.
“We’re hoping FWC does finally listen to what the public wants,” said Bryan Wilson, Central Florida coordinator of Animal Rights Foundation of Florida.
Wildlife commissioners banned hunting of the state’s largest native land mammal for 21 years before authorizing the 2015 bear hunt by a 5-1 vote.
The commission voted to hold off on a bear hunt last year.
Two bills, both introduced in the Republicandominated Legislature by Democratic lawmakers, aim to block a Florida bear hunt for at least 10 years.
The Senate version of the bill co-sponsored by Linda Stewart and Victor Torres is set for a hearing Wednesday afternoon in the Senate committee on Environmental Preservation and Conservation. Critics of bear hunting disparage the activity as nothing more than a trophy hunt with no scientific purpose.
Proponents say hunting is one way to manage growing bear populations that led to potentially dangerous interactions between the animals and people. Bears mauled three women in Seminole County before FWC authorized the 2015 hunt.
The number of bear-related nuisance calls to a FWC hotline have fallen from 6,688 in 2014 to 5,132 last year. Central Florida is regarded by biologists as the “epicenter” of nuisance bears.
Eason told state lawmakers in February that the two-year drop in calls could be attributed to a number of factors, including the impact of the 2015 hunt and a greater abundance of natural foods.
The wildlife agency also provided $825,000 to a dozen Florida counties, including Orange, Lake, Seminole and Volusia in Central Florida, to increase the use of bear-resistant trash bins.
Easy access to discarded goodies in household garbage is considered the main reason bears leave the woods for neighborhoods.
Several homeowners’ groups in Seminole County also have adopted “bear wise” rules that are credited with reducing incidents in neighborhoods adjacent to the wooded Wekiva River Conservation Area.
Some neighborhoods have won grants from the Humane Society to buy lock-top trash bins and agreed to track sightings for the Wekiva Wild and Scenic River System program.