Florida Alert! Legal, Ethical Bear Hunting and Conservation Under Attack

Legal, ethical bear hunting in Florida is currently under attack. In reality, all hunting is under attack by anti-hunting groups who would ban one form of hunting at a time until all hunting is banned. 

Make no mistake, these groups will shut down bear hunting and all hunting –  forever – if we let them.

Throughout our nation's history, hunters have been the true conservationists and protectors of our nation's sustainable wildlife populations. 

Legal and ethical hunting based on science and common sense is an integral part of maintaining our bear population in a responsible manner.  It helps ensure the sustainability of bears as a part of our natural resources.

Right now, anti-hunting groups are flooding FWC Commissioners with hateful, anti-hunting communications. Those of us who support bear hunting and all forms of legal and ethical hunting need to be heard.

In the last twenty years, bear populations have rebounded to a level that is now posing a danger to people, pets and property.  Bears will continue to terrorize homeowners and prevent families from allowing children to play outside in some areas unless they are managed properly. Reduction, by hunting, of the overall exploding population is essential to reducing the danger posed by bears.

FWC is working to educate people about securing trash and is trying to move dangerous bears out of residential areas.  However, while those programs are helpful, they cannot succeed without hunting being utilized as one of the management tools to reduce the population. 

Hunting is the most effective way to control the rapidly growing bear population and keeps our neighborhoods safe from marauding bears.

We need your help in letting the Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) know that we support legal and ethical bear hunting and that we want to continue the bear hunts that were reopened last year in Florida.

It only takes a few minutes to send an email.  If they don’t hear from you in support of bear hunting, we risk losing bear hunting in Florida.  If that happens, what hunting will be next?  Will it be deer, turkey, ducks, hogs, quail?

Use this Link to send your message to all the FWC Commissioners at once.

[email protected]

If you can attend the FWC meeting in Apalachicola, Florida on June 22nd, when this issue will be discussed, use the link below to get the agenda and other meeting information.

http://myfwc.com/about/commission/commission-meetings/2016/June/22/agenda/

BACKGROUND

For sometime we have raised concerns about the explosion in the bear population and the growing danger to human life as well as pets and property damage. The growing number of bears intruding into suburban neighborhoods is creating danger for homeowners and has been evident for some time. There is no question that bears are attacking people, killing pets and doing property damage.

According to FWC Staff information, an average of 240 bears a year are being killed by motor vehicles while only 304 bears were killed during last years bear season.

It's time to acknowledge the risks to public safety from vehicle crashes involving bears and the economic cost of subsequent injury and damage to passengers and vehicles caused by these crashes. Bear-proof garbage can programs will do nothing to keep bears off the roads and highways. Population reduction is the best and surest method of eliminating that problem.

While the anti-hunting groups decry the fact that 304 bears were killed in only two days, they apparently fail to acknowledge -- perhaps purposely -- that those statistics surely point to that fact that the bear population is probably far larger than current statistics indicate. Those numbers suggest a large and growing population of aggressive bears with no fear of humans thus posing a clear and present danger to humans and pets. Clearly, the number of hunting days and the number of permits should be increased.

Continuing a liberal bear hunting season will help bring the bear population under control and help restore safety to families in areas where bears are prolific.

PLEASE Contact FWC Commissioners at: once. [email protected]

Tell them you support the continuation of bear hunting in Florida.

And please forward this on to all your hunting friends and hunting clubs.