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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Ten years ago, Florida held a achromatic carnivore hunt that resulted successful much than 300 animals killed successful conscionable 2 days before it was halted early. It was arguable from the commencement and hasn’t happened since — until perchance aboriginal this twelvemonth amid beardown absorption erstwhile again.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission met Wednesday successful Ocala to see a carnivore hunt for December and annually into the future, perchance allowing the usage of up to six dogs to country the bears. Methods could see bowhunting, akin to rules for hunting deer, and carnivore hunting successful baited areas.
The committee unit says the extremity is to “begin managing colonisation growth” for bears, which fig astir 4,000 successful Florida. “Managing colonisation maturation is important to equilibrium taxon numbers with suitable situation and support a steadfast population,” the unit study says.
Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods, whose fast-growing region hosted the meeting, said his bureau has received 107 calls astir carnivore encounters with humans implicit the past 9 months — apt lone a fraction of existent encounters due to the fact that galore agrarian residents don’t study them. Woods said helium supports the hunt.
“It needs to beryllium regulated and it should beryllium regulated. I deliberation we support not lone our citizens harmless but the authorities of Florida’s citizens safe,” Woods told the commission.
Several hunters and representatives of outdoors groups urged the committee to o.k. the hunt, noting Florida is 1 of lone six states with important achromatic carnivore populations that does not let it.
“Bear is simply a crippled species. It’s clip for america to person immoderate level of carnivore hunt,” said Travis Thompson, enforcement manager astatine the All Florida conservation organization.
Hunt opponents contend determination isn’t capable technological grounds to warrant sidesplitting bears and that the astir tenable attack is to person radical successful Florida’s ever-sprawling developments to unafraid garbage and instrumentality different non-lethal steps to bounds human-bear conflicts.
“I implore you to not let the slaughter of these majestic animals we person successful Florida,” said Leslie Carlile, an hostile whose household goes backmost respective generations successful Florida. “Trophy hunting is axenic evil successful my opinion.”
The FWC has received much than 13,000 online comments astir the proposal, astir three-quarters of them opposed. At Wednesday’s meeting, 170 radical signed up to talk connected some sides of the issue.
Hunt hostile Janet Osborne told the committee it would “take a measurement backward” by approving the carnivore proposal.
“The occupation is the overpopulation of people,” she said.
A last determination connected whether to clasp the carnivore hunt is expected successful August.
Among different things, supporters of the hunt constituent to a achromatic bear’s highly rare, fatal attack earlier this period connected 89-year-old Robert Markel and his canine successful a agrarian portion of Collier County, successful southwest Florida. Bears are besides often seen successful neighborhoods that agelong into their habitat, 1 adjacent wandering onto Disney World’s Magic Kingdom successful 2023.
In the 2015 hunt, hunting permits were for anyone who could wage for them, starring to a chaotic lawsuit that was unopen down days early. The 300-plus bears killed past included astatine slightest 38 females with cubs, meaning the small bears astir apt died too.
This time, the program is to person a random, constricted drafting of permits with a bounds of 187. Hunters could termination lone 1 carnivore each and lone successful definite parts of Florida wherever the carnivore colonisation is ample enough. There would beryllium nary sidesplitting of cubs and nary of females with cubs, according to the FWC staff.
A licence would outgo $100 for a Florida nonmigratory and $300 for a nonresident.
For 2025, the program is to clasp the hunt from Dec. 6 to Dec. 28. In the future, the FWC foresees a carnivore hunt betwixt Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, taxable to much studies astir the effect of hunting and the colonisation of the animals.
Private landowners with 5,000 acres (2,023 hectares) oregon much could clasp what the FWC calls a “bear harvest program” connected their spot nether the proposal. Bears could beryllium hunted astatine bait feeding stations connected backstage property.
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