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At yesterday’s Senate Fiscal Policy Committee meeting, “Taking of Bears” passed with a 13 to 7 vote. The bill has been put on the schedule for a second reading before it is sent to the Senate floor for a final vote. Both SB 632 and HB 87 have to be identical. Currently, they are not.
Two amendments to SB 632 were passed at yesterday’s meeting. They read as follows, according to Senator Simon;
“This amendment inserts language that clarifies that under this bill, the person cannot lure a bear with food and attractants prior to using lethal force.”
“The amendment changes the terms of private property to dwelling. Additionally, the amendment makes it clear that a person cannot intentionally or recklessly place themselves or pets in a situation where lethal force against a bear would likely be needed. Lastly, this amendment also includes a title amendment which aims to make it clear of the intent of the legislation.”
And the title is amended as follows:
29 Delete lines 4 - 10
30 and insert:
31 taking of bears without certain penalties under
32 specified conditions; requiring the disposal of such
33 bears by the Fish and Wildlife Conservation
34 Commission; prohibiting certain possession, sale, and
35 disposal of such bears or their parts; requiring the
Section 1 provides that the act may be cited as the “Self Defense Act.”
Section 2 creates s. 379.40411, F.S., to provide that a person is not subject to any administrative, civil, or criminal penalty for taking a bear with lethal force if: The person reasonably believed that his or her action was necessary to avoid an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury to himself or herself or to another, an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury to a pet, or substantial damage to a dwelling as defined in s. 776.013(5), F.S., relating to home protection; 46 The person did not intentionally or recklessly place himself or herself or a pet in a situation in which he or she would be likely to need to use lethal force; and The person notified the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) within 24 hours after using lethal force to take the bear. The bill provides that any bear taken under this section must be disposed of by FWC. A person who takes a bear under this section may not possess, sell, or dispose of the bear or its parts. The bill directs FWC to adopt rules to implement this section.
Section 3 provides an effective date of July 1, 2024.
*** Notes ***
A person has 24 hours to notify FWC law enforcement that they have killed a bear in “self-defense.” The FWC will come out to retrieve the body of the dead bear, but it does not specify that an investigation will be made to substantiate the claim of self-defense.
At yesterday’s meeting, Senator Simon said it could take days in his district before FWC law enforcement can show up at places where incidents have taken place. This provides a window of opportunity for “bad actors” to remove evidence that could have proven the bear was lured onto the person’s property. Additionally, there will be no way, unless captured on video, to prove that the person was, in fact, acting in self-defense.
Although the newly added amendments make the bill slightly better than the previous version, which provided no clarity on the definition of property, the bill is still redundant and unnecessary. We already have a right to self-defense. This bill provides loopholes to “bad actors” and bear hunters who are bitter over the FWC not having a bear hunting season. We would like to remind people that allowing a bear hunt or allowing people to kill bears that come on their property to eat trash, birdseed, and other attractants, including deer feeders, will not stop bear-human conflicts. However, if attractants are removed, the bears will move on.
Senator Simon said the following at yesterday’s meeting;
“When I hear my opponents come up and say a black bear hasn’t killed anyone in the state of Florida, they are very specific in saying in Florida because if you pull up on your phone and you Google it, you will see that there has been black bear deaths around the country and so when you say in Florida that leads folks to believe that black bears aren’t killing people and that’s not true.”
*** Notes ***
Since 1900, only 61 people in North America have been killed by black bears.
Since recorded history, NO ONE in the State of Florida has EVER been killed by a black bear.
From the FWC’s website: Studies show black bears avoid confrontation 90% of the time. They are naturally shy animals that will generally give plenty of warnings (e.g. jaw popping, huffing ,bluff charging) before attacking. FWC has been keeping track of incidents where a person has been injured by a bear in the state of Florida since 1976 and it is a very rare event. In most cases the bear was acting in a defensive manner protecting itself, its young, or a food source.
Senator Thompson asked Senator Simon, “Does current law already allow a person who’s threatened by a bear to kill the bear in self-defense?”
Senator Simon said, “So, the answer to that question is yes, and that’s why this bill is a codifying bill to what’s currently in law. The problem with as I mentioned to Senator Trumbull the problem is folks that are in my community, that are in my district, are looking at the law and their looking at the rule and depending on which FWC agent shows up, creates the confusion. So these folks don’t know whether they can defend themselves or not, or if they do defend themselves, are they looking at criminal penalties?
Senator Thompson asked, “Under the bill, let’s say that you take a bear and you claim self-defense. How do you prove that you were threatened? Who investigates this when a person claims self-defense?”
Senator Simon responded, “The FWC does come out and do the investigation.”
*** Notes ***
The bill does not state that the FWC will conduct an investigation. It says they will come to collect the bear's body and that through the claim of self-defense;
A person is not subject to any administrative, civil or criminal penalty for taking a bear with lethal force if:
21 (a) The person reasonably believed that his or her action
22 was necessary to avoid an imminent threat of death or serious
23 bodily injury to himself or herself or to another, an imminent
24 threat of death or serious bodily injury to a pet, or
25 substantial damage to a dwelling as defined in s. 776.013(5);
26 (b) The person did not lure the bear with food or
27 attractants for an illegal purpose, including, but not limited
28 to, training dogs to hunt bears;
29 (c) The person did not intentionally or recklessly place himself or herself or a pet in a situation in which he or she
31 would be likely to need to use lethal force as described in
32 paragraph (a); and
33 (d) The person notified the commission within 24 hours
34 after he or she used lethal force to take the bear.
35 (2) A bear taken under this section must be disposed of by
36 the commission. A person who takes a bear under this section may
37 not possess, sell, or dispose of the bear or its parts.
38 (3) The commission shall adopt rules to implement this
39 section.
Senator Thompsom asked, “Do you know what kind of factors they take into consideration to determine whether or not there was, in fact, a threat and whether the person acted based on self-defense?
Senator Simon replied, “No, I don’t um, maybe we have someone from FWC. I know I have a former rep of FWC that’s here and may be able to answer that question but I don’t know what the process currently is.
Senator Thompson said, “I live in Central Florida and we have had quite a number of bear sightings and all kinds of problems and there have been solutions that have been offered and I’d like to know whether you looked at those solutions and whether or not that would solve the problem in North Florida.”
Senator Simon said, “So we are looking at all those solutions, including funding in this legislative cycle for bear-proof trashcans in some of my district this is not a single fix there are additional resources that are being committed towards handling the bear population in this part of the state.”
*** Note ***
Why would the sponsors of these bills not first use proven non-lethal solutions to stop the bear-human conflicts in their districts before resorting to killing bears?
Senator Torres asked, “How many incidents have been recorded on bear attacks that we know of up to date?”
Senator Simon replied, Uh, I don’t know that number. Um, right off the top of my head, on how many attacks we’ve had across the state. I know that we’ve had some. Um, there was a young girl that was killed not that long ago, uh, I’m sorry, injured not that long ago, mauled by a bear, but I don’t have that exact number for you.
*** Notes ***
The incident Senator Simon is referring to happened 10 years ago in Eastpoint, Florida. This is a quote from an article talking about the incident. "These bears, some of them for several years have lived in or near the town, and they've learned to get into garbage cans, and unfortunately, they've taught their cubs to get into them as well," Kirkland said.
It all goes back to securing trash and removing bear attractants.
Senator Berman asked, “Do you believe that current law allows a person who is threatened by a bear to kill that bear in self-defense?”
Senator Simon responded, “Um, again, I think there is some confusion there. Current law, yes, I do believe that it does, but the point of this, um, the point of this bill is one to codify language but also to inform and educate the public as to what their role and responsibility is at protecting their family. Um, and so that’s why this bill was filed. It was also the point to get FWC to further engage my district primarily because there’s such a huge influx of bears throughout my community. Um, to bring the proper resources and talk about mitigation efforts, management efforts to handle the population.”
*** Notes ***
Senator Simon, your district has a trash problem, not a bear overpopulation problem.
Florida citizens already have a right to defend themselves and others against any threat, including black bears. It is common sense. Why can’t you inform the people in your district that they have a right to self-defense? These bills are not necessary.
Senator Boyd Said the following, “I’ll be very brief and I won’t rehash the comments I made in the previous committee where we heard this bill but I am in support of this bill today and Senator Simon I thank you for bringing it to us. I’ve heard several things today that are just not accurate and I don’t want it to cloud anybody’s judgement. Um, bears aren’t vegetarians. They’re omnivores, meaning they eat plants and animals. I’ve also spoken with wildlife biologists who said, which I find hard to believe, but they assured me and they’re the biologists I’m not. They have a sense of smell that can go over 20 miles. So if you’re one of these rural communities and you’re on your back porch cooking breakfast in the morning, which kinda sounds like a nice idea and you’re frying bacon in an outdoor grill a bear from 20 miles away, let’s say 10 miles, 20 miles is wrong but, the biologist assured me it’s not. They're going to smell that and they’re going to come to that campfire or that grill with that bacon and there is potentially a human-bear interaction.
*** Notes ***
Senator Boyd is right. Black bears are omnivores. Omnivores that are predominantly vegetarian.
This was taken directly from the FWC’s website;
“About 80 percent of a black bear’s diet comes from plants (e.g., fruits, nuts, berries), 15 percent from insects (e.g., termites, ants, yellow jackets) and 5 percent from meat (e.g., opossums, armadillos, carrion.” https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/wildlife/bear/living/myths/
Bears do have a very strong sense of smell. FWC says Florida black bears can smell over a mile away. However, saying, “They’re (bears) going to smell that, and they’re going to come to that campfire or that grill with that bacon, and there is potentially a human-bear interaction,” is fear-mongering at its best.
As mentioned above, the FWC has been keeping track of incidents where a person has been injured by a bear in the state of Florida since 1976, and it is a very rare event.
Senator Simon closed with this, “The fear-mongering that goes along with this subject matter has gotten way out of hand. We are not opening season. This isn’t a bear-hunting bill. This is a self-defense bill. That is it, that is all and with that, I close.”
*** Notes ***
We agree with you that the fear-mongering has gotten way out of hand. But the fear-mongering isn’t coming from us, your opposition. It is coming from your side. From “crack bears” to bears that are going to start viewing people as tasty treats to bears that can smell you cooking bacon on your grill 20 miles away and are going to come and try and take that bacon. To the thousands of bears that are roaming your district's neighborhoods when there are only an estimated 4,050 black bears in the entire state of Florida. To the boar bears that are chasing the female bears with cubs and juveniles out of the forest because there is only so much food in the forest.
The reality is bears eat a lot, and instead of eating the abundance of natural foods in the forests, they, like many humans, prefer fast food with little effort. That is why they go in your trash. It provides an abundance of calorie-dense foods with little to no effort.
We want to commend the Senators who voted against this bill. Please contact them via a phone call and email to let them know we support and appreciate their vote against SB 632 - “Taking of Bears.”
Senator Geraldine F. 'Geri' Thompson
Thompson.Geraldine@flsenate.gov
(850) 487-5015
Senator Lori Berman
Berman.Lori@flsenate.gov
(850) 487-5026
Vice Chair: Senator Linda Stewart
Stewart.Linda@flsenate.gov
(850) 487-5017
Senator Ileana Garcia
Garcia.Ileana@flsenate.gov
(850) 487-5036
Senator. Rosalind Osgood
Osgood.Rosalind@flsenate.gov
(850) 487-5032
Senator Victor Torres
Torres.Victor@flsenate.gov
(850) 487-5025
Senator Shevrin D. "Shev" Jones
jones.shevrin@flsenate.gov
(850) 487-5034
To email all the Senators at once, copy and paste the email addresses into the BCC section of your email.
Stewart.Linda@flsenate.gov, Jones.Shevrin@flsenate.gov, Garcia.Ileana.web@flsenate.gov, Thompson.Geraldine@flsenate.gov, Torres.Victor@flsenate.gov, Berman.Lori@flsenate.gov, Osgood.Rosalind@flsenate.gov
Contact the Senators who voted in favor of SB 632 - “Taking of Bears.” Please explain why you are opposed to this bill and express your disappointment in their vote.
Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez
rodriguez.anamaria@flsenate.gov
(850) 487-5040
Chair: Senator Travis Hutson
Hutson.Travis@flsenate.gov
(850) 487-5007
Senator Ben Albritton
Albritton.Ben@flsenate.gov
(850) 487-5027
Senator Jim Boyd
Boyd.Jim@flsenate.gov
(850) 487-5020
Senator Colleen Burton
Burton.Colleen@flsenate.gov
(850) 487-5012
Senator Alexis Calatayud
Calatayud.Alexis@flsenate.gov
(850) 487-5038
Senator Jay Collins
Collins.Jay@flsenate.gov
(850) 487-5014
Senator Nick DiCeglie
DiCeglie.Nick@flsenate.gov
(850) 487-5018
Senator Shevrin D. 'Shev' Jones
Jones.Shevrin@flsenate.gov
(850) 487-5034
Senator Debbie Mayfield
Mayfield.Debbie@flsenate.gov
(850) 487-5019
Bill Sponsor: Senator Corey Simon
Simon.Corey@flsenate.gov
(850) 487-5003
Senator Jay Trumbull
Trumbull.Jay@flsenate.gov
(850) 487-5002
Senator Tom Wright
Wright.Tom@flsenate.gov
(850) 487-5008
Senator Clay Yarborough
Yarborough.Clay@flsenate.gov
(850) 487-5004
To email all the Senators at once, copy and paste the email addresses into the BCC section of your email.
Hutson.Travis@flsenate.gov, rodriguez.anamaria.web@flsenate.gov, Albritton.Ben@flsenate.gov, Boyd.Jim@flsenate.gov, Burton.Colleen@flsenate.gov, Calatayud.Alexis@flsenate.gov, Collins.Jay@flsenate.gov, DiCeglie.Nick@flsenate.gov, Mayfield.Debbie@flsenate.gov, Simon.Corey@flsenate.gov, Trumbull.Jay@flsenate.gov, Wright.Tom@flsenate.gov, Yarborough.Clay@flsenate.gov
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