OVIEDO, Fla. – A Central Florida-based conservation group is fighting in court against a planned black bear hunt scheduled for December.
Bear Warriors United filed a petition last week with the Division of Administrative Hearings to stop the hunt that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission approved last week under a new rule.
[WATCH: Florida bear hunt approved. Here’s what’s next]
The petition alleges that the new rule, Rule 68A-12.012, F.A.C., grants sweeping authority to the FWC’s executive director to determine hunting zones and set the number of permits without clear scientific guidance or public oversight.
Bear Warriors United claims that this process bypasses the necessary input of the full commission and limits public participation, undermining due process and contradicting state law.
According to the filing, the non-profit maintains that decisions about sustainable wildlife management should be based on current, peer-reviewed science and should involve a transparent public process. The group argues that the rule relies on outdated population data and disregards the Commission’s own Black Bear Management Plan, which was updated in 2019 to guide management for the next decade and prioritizes conflict prevention and habitat protection over hunting.
The last bear management population growth report was published on the FWC website in 2017.
“We only have 4,000 bears left in Florida. They are being killed off at an unsustainable rate by vehicle strikes (over 300 every year), poaching, and loss of habitat. Trophy hunting our bears will be the final nail in their coffin... and will exacerbate the speed at which they are barreling toward extinction,” said Katrina Shadix, executive director of Bear Warriors United.
[MAP: Where Florida’s black bears reside]
[WATCH: Protests as Florida wildlife officials prepare to vote on bear hunt]
“If this trophy bear hunt passes, they will be using baiting stations to lure and kill already hungry bears that are suffering due to habitat loss. None of this is a sport; it would be a sadistic blood bath of innocent lives,” said attorney Raquel Levy on behalf of Bear Warriors United.
“We do not comment on active litigation,” said the FWC in response to this pending lawsuit.
A final public hearing on the bear hunt rule was held Aug. 13 at the Florida Public Safety Institute in Havana, Florida.
[READ Bear Warriors United complaint]