Anti-Hunters Will Attempt to Sabotage Florida's Bear Hunt With This Dirty Tactic
'Never in my life did I think I'd be a hunter,' Chuck O'Neal, president of Speak Up Wekiva, a grassroots organization dedicated to protecting the Wekiva River and its watershed, told Naples Daily News. 'Now that we have a constitutional right to hunt, I might as well take advantage of that.'
O'Neal was sarcastically referring to Amendment 2, Florida's new constitutional amendment that guarantees the right to hunt and fish for anyone with a proper license. Passed in 2024 with more than 67 percent support from the Florida electorate, the amendment protects individual participation in hunting and fishing. Also, it identifies these activities as the 'preferred means of responsibly managing and controlling fish and wildlife.'
O'Neal and other opponents of the bear hunt argue that Amendment 2 makes it possible for them to purchase a license and apply for one of the black bear permits, which are likely to be allocated this year.
'We'll put in a few times or a few hundred times. It's an equal opportunity to enter this. I must admit, I'm not a good marksman. I may kill a bear with kindness,' O'Neal said.
However, the specific language of the amendment could complicate the protest effort. It may not be illegal to purchase a tag and stay home, but the coordinated effort to obstruct legal hunting access seems to run afoul of the spirit of Amendment 2, which was intended to guarantee Floridians the right to hunt, not just to purchase a license. If anti-hunters snatch up a large quantity of the state's available bear permits, it would rob others of their constitutionally protected right. It also strips the state of the management tool that the amendment prioritizes.
It's unclear how FWC would prevent anti-hunters from applying or if there would be any punishment for drawing with the intention of limiting hunting opportunity for others.
Adding to the complexity of the issue is Florida's application process. The state requires individuals to complete a hunter safety course before purchasing a license. If non-hunters apply for the black bear lottery without completing the required course, they won't be able to buy a permit, even if they are drawn in the lottery. This could limit the protest's potential impact (unless, of course, those applicants are willing to complete hunter education).
Read Next: Florida Just Approved a Black Bear Season. Connecticut Could Be Next
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission maintains the hunt is necessary to manage the state's growing black bear population and to mitigate rising human-bear conflicts, including a recent fatal attack on an 88-year-old man in Collier County. The FWC voted 4-1 to give preliminary approval for the hunt on May 15. A final vote on the proposed hunt, which would allot 187 black bear tags, is scheduled for August. The FWC was not immediately available for comment on whether the state has a plan to address protester-driven lottery entries.
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A FWC researcher collects black bear hair to conduct DNA studies. Kodiak Island, Alaska, for instance, is home to the highest density of brown bears in the world—not despite the hunting that takes place there, but because of it. Hunt a limited number of mature bruins and that guarantees the survival of more cubs. In other words, the Wekiva ad featuring the cub could more accurately say, 'If you love me, allow the hunt to continue." The reality is that with an estimated 4,000 bears in the population, even if all tags were filled, it would not stop the growth of the state's bear population. Thus, the biggest question facing the FWC might simply be: what liability will they incur should they fail to enact the hunt at the request of the agency and more attacks on humans occur? Ultimately, wildlife commissions have a responsibility to all state citizens—not simply the most vocal. FWC employs more than 2,000 full-time fish and wildlife experts, with many possessing advanced degrees. 'FWC has incredibly talented and experienced bear biologists and researchers, who have provided Florida with some of, if not, the best black bear data in the country,' says George Warthen, FWC Chief Conservation Officer who has been with the agency for 15 years. 'This data is at the forefront of the decisions the FWC makes in managing bear populations in the state.' 'The actions of Animal Rights groups often have less to do with what benefits wildlife than what it does to line their own pockets,' says Jack Hubbard, Executive Director of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Environment and Welfare. 'These groups have a long history of using emotionally charged imagery and rhetoric to raise money—often with very little evidence that the funds they raise ever do much to help animals.' Review the successes and failures of wildlife management strategies across the globe and it's difficult not to conclude that the model of hunter-funded conservation is the most viable and sustainable method that's yet to be employed. This approach came of age following the ecological calamity of the Dust Bowl of the 1930s and remains the planet's most successful conservation approach. Ultimately, however, the question facing the FWC is simple: Follow science…or emotion?
