TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida’s first black bear hunt in a decade is scheduled to start Saturday and run by means of Dec. 28 after a circuit court docket choose rejected a authorized problem in search of to halt the controversial season.
Leon County Circuit Decide Angela Dempsey dominated in opposition to the conservation group Bear Warriors United in November, clearing the way in which for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Fee, or FWC to proceed.
The FWC, which argues the hunt is a mandatory wildlife administration device, plans to make use of the season to handle the state’s rising bear inhabitants and scale back conflicts with people.
The problem, filed by Bear Warriors United, argued that the FWC’s determination to approve the hunt was not primarily based on sound science.
Dempsey dominated that the nonprofit did not show a “substantial probability of success on the deserves” in its lawsuit, affirming the FWC’s constitutional authority to handle the state’s wildlife.
The FWC, which sanctioned the hunt in August, maintains that the measure is important to handle Florida’s rising bear inhabitants and scale back growing conflicts between bears and people in sure areas.
A searching advocacy group, the Worldwide Order of T. Roosevelt, or IOTR, referred to as the transfer a “accountable and humane wildlife administration device,” noting that it follows the identical science-based rules used for different managed species.
The 2025 hunt is strictly restricted and restricted to 4 designated Bear Administration Items.
The FWC initially authorized 187 permits however diminished the overall to 172 permits out there statewide, with 18 allotted for the Central Florida area. Every winner of the lottery, which drew greater than 100,000 purposes, obtained the best to reap one bear.
The final hunt, held in 2015, was abruptly halted after simply two days when hunters shortly exceeded the quota.
