A Leon County judge on Monday cleared the way for Florida’s first black bear hunt in a decade, denying a request from environmentalists to block the controversial event just weeks before it is set to begin.
Circuit Judge Angela Dempsey ruled that Bear Warriors United, the Central Florida nonprofit suing to stop the hunt, failed to prove a “substantial likelihood of success” in their legal challenge. With the ruling, the three-week season remains on schedule to start December 6.
At the center of the dispute was the validity of the science used to approve the harvest. Bear Warriors United argued the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) relied on obsolete data to justify the “needless destruction” of the animals.
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“FWC has made a decision here to go forward with a bear hunt… based on outdated and stale population information and models,” said Thomas Crapps, an attorney for the group.
However, the state successfully argued that the commission is the exclusive regulatory body for wildlife in Florida and that the opposition was simply unhappy with the outcome of the public process.
“This becomes Bear Warriors whining about what they did not get,” said Rhonda Parnell, acting deputy general counsel for the commission. “They didn’t get what they wanted, because they didn’t want a bear hunt.”
A “Conservative” Approach
The upcoming hunt differs significantly from the last one held in Florida. In 2015, a planned seven-day hunt was abruptly halted after just two days when hunters killed 304 bears, nearly hitting the cap of 320.
Judge Dempsey noted the 2015 hunt was found constitutional even with those numbers. She described the 2024 plan as “significantly more conservative,” citing strict limits on the number of bears that can be harvested and timing designed to protect female bears.
The commission has issued exactly 172 permits, with a strict limit of one bear per permit holder. The hunt will take place in four specific regions: the Apalachicola region west of Tallahassee, areas west of Jacksonville, north of Orlando, and the Big Cypress region southwest of Lake Okeechobee.
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Michael Orlando, the commission’s bear program coordinator, defended the science behind the numbers. He told the court that demographic studies regarding birth and death rates remain valid for long periods.
“If all 172 bears were harvested, and they were all female, it would still not impact the population,” Orlando testified.
The Numbers Game
Florida’s black bear population is currently estimated at over 4,000. As human development expands into bear habitats, interactions in residential areas have increased, prompting the state to argue that a limited hunt helps stabilize the population in suitable habitats.
The permitting process itself became a battleground. Opponents of the hunt flooded the $5 lottery-style drawing with approximately 163,000 entries. Activists claim they successfully secured up to 40 of the 172 available permits, effectively lowering the potential harvest by keeping those tags unused.
The commission had originally approved 187 permits but reduced the total by 15 prior to the lottery after updating a population estimate for the area north of Orlando.
In her ruling, Judge Dempsey emphasized that Bear Warriors United had ample opportunity to voice their concerns during the FWC’s rulemaking process and public workshops. Finding no violation of due process, she denied the temporary injunction.
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