For the first time in a decade, a black bear hunt is coming to Florida. But some residents are trying to stop it.
More than 100 of them came to the state Capitol on Monday to rally against the hunt, which is scheduled to start Dec. 6 and last until Dec. 28.
"We're here appealing to Gov. [Ron] DeSantis," said Cris Costello, a rally organizer and the state campaign director for the Sierra Club's Florida chapter. "He is the only one that can stop this hunt right now, and so we're in his literal front yard, I suppose, asking him to stop it."
"I AM NOT YOUR TROPHY," one rally sign said. Another: "TROPHY HUNTING IS NOT CONSERVATION."
The last bear hunt occurred in 2015. Officials ended it on the second day, since hunters had taken out bears more quickly than expected and had already come close to the statewide limit.
This year, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has issued 172 hunting permits, with only one black bear allowed to be killed per permit. Some of those permits have reportedly been snagged by activists opposed to the hunt.
The hunt is limited to four areas of the state.
The state says bear populations have increased — and so have human-bear encounters.
The protesters say it's human development that has increased. They worry the hunt will hurt bear populations, and they advocate for non-lethal approaches like locking trash cans.
Black bears "aren't really looking for trouble ... They're looking for some food, and unfortunately, people still aren't protecting their trash cans," said Kim Norwood, a Brooksville retiree who took one of the several Sierra Club-arranged buses that brought anti-bear hunt activists to the Capitol.
"So they keep coming," Norwood continued. "But people need to know that this all can be rectified."
A judge will consider a request to block the hunt next Monday.
"We're either going to win big or we're going to lose big, and there's going to be irreparable harm to the bears," said Raquel Levy, the attorney who made the request. She represents the group Bear Warriors United and also attended the Monday rally.
Levy and others against the hunt say the state's supporting science is outdated and incomplete, and that wildlife officials haven’t fully considered harm to local bear populations.
FWC defends its analysis and notes it has "constitutionally derived authority" to manage wildlife.
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This story was produced by WUSF as part of a statewide journalism initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
