A Florida court denied a temporary injunction last month that would have stopped the state’s first black bear hunt since 2015. One hundred and seventy-two hunters, who paid for the opportunity to help manage the black bear population, can head afield in search of a Sunshine State bruin beginning Saturday.
“That 2015 hunt was found constitutional under the rational basis test, and this hunt is significantly more conservative than that hunt…both in number of bears that could be harvested, as well as the timing, when it’s a little less likely for more female bears to be killed,” Judge Angela C. Dempsey noted in her ruling.
The hunt, approved by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) in August, was put at risk when anti-hunting groups filed a lawsuit to overturn the decision. After plaintiff Bear Warriors United sued to stop a NRA Hunters’ Leadership Forum supported hunt, conservation groups—including Safari Club International (SCI), Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation (SAF) and others—joined the case to protect the sound scientific management of the state’s wildlife.
Florida’s bear population is healthy. It’s outgrown desired population figures and endangering citizens so regularly that last year the state passed a law that allows Floridians to protect their homes, pets and their persons from aggressive black bears.
“Hunting plays an essential role in maintaining animal populations and conserving wildlife around the world,” said SCI CEO W. Laird Hamberlin. “The fight for legal black bear hunting in Florida perfectly crystallizes this fact…”
“This is a great win for hunters and science-based wildlife management,” said Michael Jean, litigation counsel for SAF. “The court considered the science and the fact that the Florida Constitution gives the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission exclusive authority to manage the state’s wildlife. It then held that the Plaintiffs were not likely to succeed on the merits. We couldn’t ask for more.”
Anti-hunters, not satisfied with the court decision, began purchasing tags with no intention of using them. With only 172 black bear tags allotted for this year’s hunt, that approach does not reduce human-bear conflicts or the 300-plus vehicle strikes the state sees every year.
