Today, despite strong opposition, the Infrastructure Strategies Committee passed HB 87 - “Taking of Bear,” with 16 Representatives voting in favor of the bill and 9 Representatives voting against it.
Many of the bill's supporters have stated that the FWC has failed to manage the bear populations. This is not true. The bears are not overpopulating. In fact, there is no scientific data to support that killing bears/establishing a bear hunting season will stop bear-human interactions. This is because the problem is not bear overpopulation; it is a failure of humans to secure their trash and remove bear attractants. Even the FWC has previously stated that bear hunting does not reduce bear-human conflicts. If you kill bears that come on your property to eat unsecured trash, birdseed, or other attractants, other bears will come in place of that bear. Killing the bears is not the solution.
The bill sponsor, Jason Shoaf, said the bears that will be killed are bears that are conditioned. He refers to them as “crack bears.” What he failed to say was that PEOPLE are the ones conditioning these bears with trash and other attractants. His description of bears is, of course, grossly exaggerated. Bears are not the man-eating monsters he would like you to believe they are. He also says that under current law, you can’t kill a bear in self-defense if the bear enters your home. That is untrue. We already have a right to self-defense against any person or animal that we kill because we reasonably believe our lives or our loved ones (pets included) lives are in danger. He also says that if you kill a person who enters your home in self-defense, there is no investigation, but if you kill a bear in self-defense, the FWC will investigate. This, of course, is untrue. The only difference is local law enforcement will investigate instead of FWC law enforcement.
Remember, bears are predominantly vegetarian and NO ONE IN THE STATE OF FLORIDA HAS EVER BEEN KILLED BY A BLACK BEAR.
Rep. Shoaf keeps saying this bill is not about bear hunting, yet here is a quote from him.
“We really need a bear hunt,” Shoaf said. “It’s what we need here in North Florida. We’re inundated. We’ve got way too many. Until we do that, we’re going to continue to have these problems.”
Rep. Shoaf also brought up Florida’s 2015 black bear hunt and implied that the reason bears were killed so quickly and the FWC had to call off the hunt early was because bears were overpopulating. That could not be further from the truth. He failed to mention that 78% of the bears killed during the hunt were killed on private lands. In the Eastern Panhandle Bear Management Unit (BMU), 90-100% of the bears killed during the 2015 bear hunt were killed on private property. When the bears were brought to check stations and gutted, many of the bears had corn in their stomachs, indicative of deer baiting stations. The majority of the bear hunters who hunted back in 2015 knew where the bears were located, which is why so many were killed so quickly. The bears were easy targets.
Many proponents of the bill claim they have thousands of bears roaming their neighborhoods.
The reality is there are only an estimated 4,050 black bears in the entire State of Florida. In comparison, there are over 22 million people currently in Florida.
In the 1970s, the Florida black bear population was reduced to between 300-500 black bears throughout the state due to unregulated hunting and habitat loss.
In 1974, Florida black bears were designated by the state of Florida as Threatened and placed on the state's Endangered and Threatened Species List. Florida’s black bears are a unique subspecies of the American black bear.
Black bears were removed from the state’s threatened list in 2012.
Black bears are slow to reproduce. It has taken 49 years for Florida's black bear population to grow from between 300-500 bears in 1974, to an estimated 4,050 today. Female bears spend up to 18 months raising their cubs. This bill will allow people to kill mother bears and cubs.
One of the speakers at today’s meeting (1/30/2024) who is in favor of this bill (and a bear hunt proponent) falsely stated, as he has at previous meetings, that the reason bears are going into neighborhoods is that bears have reached their environmental carrying capacity. He claims the boar bears (male bears) have become so plentiful they're running out all of the sows (female bears) with cubs and juvenile bears because there is only so much food in the forest.
There is no scientific data to support his claim. In fact, one of FWC’s bear biologists was recently asked by a bear hunter during a meeting that our organization is a part of if there was any data on the number of bears killed by boar bears (male bears); the biologist stated that it was so rare it is not even considered during scientific research.
Bears regulate their own populations through a biological process known as delayed implantation. This is nature’s way of keeping bear populations in check. If food is scarce, female bears will not reproduce every two years but instead every 3-4 years.
Both HB 87 - “Taking of Bears” and SB 632 - “Taking of Bears” have been amended to remove the language that states if one "feels threatened" and replaced it with "reasonably believes there is a threat." This is still a broad statement and can be interpreted differently by each individual. They both removed sections that prevent people from luring or provoking a bear.
These bills override the FWC's authority to investigate, so an individual will not have to prove they acted in self-defense. In areas where conflicts are present, the bears are already being lured onto private property, whether directly or indirectly, by trash and other bear attractants. Perhaps that is why they removed previous provisions.
*** Calls To Action ***
Email the 9 Representatives who VOTED NO on HB 87 - “Taking of Bears.” Please thank them for taking a stand against this unfounded, cruel, and unnecessary bill.
Representative Anna Eskamani
Email: anna.eskamani@myfloridahouse.gov
Phone: (850) 717-5042
Representative Michael Gottlieb
Email: michael.gottlieb@myfloridahouse.gov
Phone: (850) 717-5102
Representative Linda Chaney
Email: linda.chaney@myfloridahouse.gov
Phone: (850) 717-5061
Representative Christine Hunschofsky
Email: christine.hunschofsky@myfloridahouse.gov
Phone: (850) 717-5095
Representative David Smith
Email: david.smith@myfloridahouse.gov
Phone: (850) 717-5038
Representative Tom Keen
Email: tom.keen@myfloridahouse.gov
Phone: (850) 717-5035
Representative Johanna Lopez
Email: johanna.lopez@myfloridahouse.gov
Phone: (850) 717-5043
Representative Felicia Robinson
Email: felicia.robinson@myfloridahouse.gov
Phone: (850) 717-5104
Representative Angie Nixon
Email: angie.nixon@myfloridahouse.gov
Phone: (850) 717-5013
Copy and paste all the Rep's email addresses into the BCC section of your email to email them all at once.
anna.eskamani@myfloridahouse.gov, michael.gottlieb@myfloridahouse.gov, linda.chaney@myfloridahouse.gov, christine.hunschofsky@myfloridahouse.gov, david.smith@myfloridahouse.gov, tom.keen@myfloridahouse.gov, johanna.lopez@myfloridahouse.gov, felicia.robinson@myfloridahouse.gov, angie.nixon@myfloridahouse.gov
Contact the 16 Representatives who VOTED YES on HB 87 - “Taking of Bears” and express your concerns.
Representative Bobby Payne (Chair)
Email: bobby.payne@myfloridahouse.gov
Phone: (850) 717-5020
Representative Jennifer Canady (Vice Chair)
Email: jennifer.canady@myfloridahouse.gov
Phone: (850) 717-5050
Representative Alex Andrade
Email: alex.andrade@myfloridahouse.gov
Phone: (850) 595-0467
Representative Adam Botana
Email: adam.botana@myfloridahouse.gov
Phone: (850) 717-5080
Representative Robert Brackett
Email: robert.brackett@myfloridahouse.gov
Phone: (850) 717-5034
Representative James Buchanan
Email: james.buchanan@myfloridahouse.gov
Phone: (850) 717-5074
Representative Hillary Cassel
Email: hillary.cassel@myfloridahouse.gov
Phone: (850) 717-5101
Representative Sam Killebrew
Email: sam.killebrew@myfloridahouse.gov
Phone: (850) 717-5048
Representative Fiona McFarland
Email: fiona.mcfarland@myfloridahouse.gov
Phone: (850) 717-5073
Representative Jim Mooney
Email: jim.mooney@myfloridahouse.gov
Phone: (850) 717-5120
Representative Susan Plasencia
Email: susan.plasencia@myfloridahouse.gov
Phone: (850) 717-5037
Representative Mike Redondo
Email: mike.redondo@myfloridahouse.gov
Phone: (850) 717-5118
Bill Sponsor Representative Jason Shoaf
Email: jason.shoaf@myfloridahouse.gov
Phone: (850) 717-5007
Representative Cyndi Stevenson
Email: cyndi.stevenson@myfloridahouse.gov
Phone: (850) 717-5018
Representative Josie Tomkow
Email: josie.tomkow@myfloridahouse.gov
Phone: (850) 717-5051
Representative Keith Truenow
Email: keith.truenow@myfloridahouse.gov
Phone: (850) 717-5026
Copy and paste all the Rep's email addresses into the BCC section of your email to email them all at once.
bobby.payne@myfloridahouse.gov, jennifer.canady@myfloridahouse.gov, alex.andrade@myfloridahouse.gov, adam.botana@myfloridahouse.gov, robert.brackett@myfloridahouse.gov, james.buchanan@myfloridahouse.gov, hillary.cassel@myfloridahouse.gov, sam.killebrew@myfloridahouse.gov, fiona.mcfarland@myfloridahouse.gov, jim.mooney@myfloridahouse.gov, susan.plasencia@myfloridahouse.gov, mike.redondo@myfloridahouse.gov, jason.shoaf@myfloridahouse.gov, cyndi.stevenson@myfloridahouse.gov, josie.tomkow@myfloridahouse.gov, keith.truenow@myfloridahouse.gov
Thank you for taking action!