FWC votes 4-3 to postpone bear hunting

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission voted 4-3 Wednesday to postpone the 2016 bear hunt.

“Although hunting has been demonstrated to be a valuable tool to control bear populations across the country, it is just one part of FWC’s comprehensive bear management program,” said FWC executive director, Nick Wiley. “I am proud of our staff, who used the latest, cutting-edge, peer-reviewed science to develop a recommendation for our commissioners to consider.”

The commission agreed to accept a recommendation for there to be no hunt this year, saying the delay will allow nonlethal bear control efforts to take hold, such as expanding the availability of bear-proof trash containers in communities with high numbers of bear-human interactions.

Commission staff had recommended a hunt broken into three four-day periods, where hunters would apply for permits on a first-come, first-served basis for specific dates and areas.

They also heard proposals that included holding another hunt with the same rules as last year, not holding another hunt until 2017 or putting a hunt off indefinitely.

More than 80 people addresses the commission Wednesday night, with the pro-hunt crowd outnumbered nearly 3-1 by people asking to postpone or prohibit future hunts.

Last year, hunters killed 304 bears in the state's first hunt in more than 20 years. Opponents of bear hunting held 28 protests across the state last weekend.

“Today I am thrilled, and planning for doing positive things for bears in Florida, and now having to have that sick feeling in my stomach that we’re going to be slaughtering up to 400 bears in the fall,” said Laura Bevan of the Humane Society of the Unite States.

Over the past three years, FWC officials said they have received 21,000 calls about bear sightings.

FWC said it will implement, monitor and measure the $825,000 investment for local communities to reduce human-bear conflict.

FWC officials said they have responded 700 times to phone calls about bear sightings, and they have consulted with 59,000 Floridians about bear problems around the state.

"My 15-year-old daughter was viciously attacked by a black bear,” said pro bear hunting resident, Sheri Hutchins.

Hutchins said last year’s hunt made a difference.

"We haven't had a bear in our neighborhoods in four months now, (compared) to where we had seven a night at one time (before)," Hutchins said.

Pro-hunt advocates, like former NRA President Marion Hammer, aren’t sold on the FWC's plans to mitigate bear problems.

“Bear-proof trash cans, whistles, freezing your garbage, that may help some but nothing will be successful if you don’t hunt bears to keep the numbers down,” Hammer said.

But others are not in favor of the hunt.

"Change is hard, but please consider others options of bear management," said resident Megan Sorbo.

The challenge is how to conserve the bear population while keeping human interactions significantly down.

The state’s black bear population has grown substantially over the past four decades, from an estimated 300 to 500 bears statewide in the 1970s, to roughly 4,200 today.

Pro-hunt advocates said the one-year pause will help solidify the need for another bear hunt in 2017.

If that does happen, the areas where hunting will be allowed will be restricted.

"Looking at where those incidents, calls and road kills are concentrated, we would place the hunting zones on those areas and refine that," director of the Division of Hunting and Game Management, Diane Eggeman, said.

The key issue continues to be that bears are looking for food, mainly in residents’ trash. But bear-proof cans were made available for purchase.

"We are finding the notifications are enough to get people's attention, that they work with us and change their behavior on trash and garbage," said director Division of Habitat and Species, Thomas Eason.

Brevard County was considering a ban on bear hunting.

Last week, Volusia and Lake counties came up with ordinances against hunts.

Seminole County leaders have also been pushing to block them.

Despite those decisions, the state has the final say.

Cox Media Group