During yesterday’s House Session (2/17/2024), legislatures passed HB 87 with 88 votes in favor of the bill and 29 votes against the bill. The bill is now scheduled for a final floor vote on the Senate Floor next week.
Scroll down for calls to action.
Representatives in favor of HB 87 presented hypothetical situations involving bears and children, lied, and used scare tactics to gain support for the bill. Many of the Reps made a mockery of the legislative process. They took something that meant a lot to Floridians and diminished it with their child-like antics. They have disrespected the thousands of people who have called, emailed, and signed our petition in opposition to this horrible piece of legislation. They have belittled the FWC and discredited their work in conservation, as well as infringed upon their constitutional authority over managing Florida’s wildlife. This is a big slap in the face to Governor DeSantis, who is charged with appointing FWC’s Commissioners.
If this bill becomes law, it will essentially create an unregulated bear hunting season where people can kill black bears 24-7, 365 days of the year, with impunity. They only have to claim that they believed their life was in danger and that lethal force was necessary to protect themselves, loved ones, or their property. There is no way to prove or disprove that someone “reasonably believes” their life or property was threatened.
The sponsors of this bill would like you to believe that right now, you can’t defend yourself against a bear that has broken into your home or poses a threat. They say that if you kill that bear, the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) will come out and do an investigation, and you will be arrested and fined for your actions. They say if a human breaks into your home and you kill that human, you will not be investigated or charged with a crime. This, of course, is false. If you kill someone who entered your house, the police will investigate to be sure that it was an act of self-defense. Once they determined it was, in fact, an act of defense, you will not be charged with any crime. The same is true for people who kill Florida's black bears in self-defense.
Our lawmakers have completely ignored the fact that we already have a right to self-defense under the Common Law Defense of Necessity.
There are cases in Florida involving the killing of black bears in self-defense, and through an investigative process conducted by the FWC, once deemed self-defense, a person is not charged with a crime. On the contrary, poachers and people who kill bears just to kill them are currently being prosecuted; these bills remove protections and allow the killing of bears without consequence.
These bills remove the authority of FWC law enforcement to investigate and prosecute individuals who unjustifiably kill black bears. Despite lawmakers claiming the FWC will still come out, it’s not to do an investigation; it’s to collect the dead bear’s body. Even if they were to investigate, this bill ensures that a person is not subject to any administrative, civil, or criminal penalty for killing a black bear.
At a previous committee meeting, provisions that supposedly prevented a person from luring or provoking a bear were removed and then later added back into the bill as an amendment. The reason we say supposedly is because, 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.
The sponsors of HB 87 and SB 632 (Taking of Bears) have completely rejected proven non-lethal methods as a means to mitigate conflicts before resorting to killing. Securing trash and removing attractants greatly reduces and/or eliminates bear-human conflicts. In areas where conflicts are present, it is due to unsecured trash. Solutions such as bear-resistant trashcans and trash services have been offered and denied.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) plays a crucial role in managing and conserving Florida's wildlife and natural resources. Its constitutional role is established under Article IV, Section 9 of the Florida Constitution, which grants the FWC the authority to regulate and manage the state's fish and wildlife resources for their long-term well-being and the benefit of the people of Florida.
The reason the Florida legislature does not have authority over the management of wildlife and hunting is that the responsibility for such management was specifically entrusted to the FWC by the Florida Constitution. This separation of powers ensures that wildlife management decisions are made by experts with scientific knowledge and experience in conservation biology rather than being subject to the potential political influences that could arise from legislative processes.
The legislature's own staff analysis admits that the bills potentially violate the Florida Constitution. This is because they override the rule-making authority of the FWC, which is constitutionally granted specific regulatory and executive powers.
These bills are neither focused nor equipped to meet the extraordinary challenge of conserving Florida’s wildlife species and ecosystems. They fail to address the potential impacts the proposed law will have on Florida’s black bear populations and wildlife as a whole. Bears are considered by biologists to be a keystone species because of their outsized ecological importance. They play an important role in ecosystem dynamics, including seed dispersal, nutrient cycling, and maintaining biodiversity. Indiscriminate killing of black bears could disrupt these ecological processes and have cascading effects on other species and ecosystem functions.
In 1974, unregulated hunting and habitat loss were responsible for the near extinction of the Florida black bear, with only an estimated 300-500 bears left in the state. It has taken nearly 50 years for Florida’s black bear population to rebound to approximately 4,050 today. Black bears are slow to reproduce and 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.
In 2015, special interest groups and trophy hunters pressured the FWC to approve a bear hunt for the first time in more than 20 years. There was overwhelming public outrage over this decision and a collective effort from organizations and people not only in Florida but worldwide to stop the bear hunt. Our efforts failed in 2015. But, our organization, along with several others, continued our fight to stop the bear hunt.
On June 22, 2016, over a hundred people attended the FWC’s meeting in Eastpoint, Florida, to speak in opposition to the bear hunt. At that meeting, FWC Commissioners voted 4-3 against a 2016 black bear hunt.
On April 19, 2017, FWC Commissioners agreed to revamp the bear management plan and report back in two years (2019). FWC Commissioners also stated they would not be revisiting having a bear hunt until 2019. The FWC's reason for calling off the hunt was due to the overwhelming public pressure they received.
The Commissioner Chair at that time, Brian Yablonski, said, "A hunt is consuming; it is consuming to this agency all the way around and the benefit that we get with this species at this moment in time, I don't know if it's worth the consumption that our team is going to go through, and we're all going to go through."
Since the 2015 Florida black bear hunt, the FWC has done a tremendous job in listening to their stakeholders regarding bears and implementing effective non-lethal solutions to bear-human conflicts. They understand that non-hunters have a say in wildlife conservation and management practices. After witnessing the fear-mongering and misleading statements from our legislators, it is clear why the FWC was granted constitutional authority over decisions involving our state’s wildlife and resources and not lawmakers.
Conservation, in the context of environmental science and wildlife management, refers to the careful management, protection, and sustainable use of natural resources, including wildlife, forests, water, and habitats, to ensure their long-term viability and health. Conservation aims to strike a balance between human needs and the preservation of ecosystems and biodiversity for future generations.
During FWC Commission Meetings, a handful of the same bear hunters who pushed for the 2015 bear hunt have consistently requested/demanded that a bear hunting season be established. The Bear hunters are extremely upset with the FWC for listening to us “antis” and not allowing them to kill bears. There is a connection between HB 87, SB 632, and bear hunters.
These bills are their way of getting back at those of us who work to protect bears and the FWC for not giving them what they want, which is to kill bears.
Representative Jason Shoaf is part of the Florida Sportsmen’s Caucus. One of the people responsible for starting the caucus is Lane Stephens, a lobbyist and big bear hunt proponent. There are several photos linking Lane Stephens, Representative Shoaf, Senator Simon, and other bear hunters.
Rep. Shoaf has been trying to pass this bill for the past two years. This year, he got support from Senator Simon and Franklin County Sheriff A.J. “Tony” Smith, who attended committee meetings and falsely stated that thousands of bears are roaming neighborhoods in Franklin County. In reality, there are only an estimated 1,060 bears in all of Franklin County, which is comprised of 545 square miles and 348,800 acres. He was asked during his testimony how many people in his area have had bears breaking into houses and posing threats but he could not provide the stats, which is a reoccurring theme in many of the questions posed to not only the Sheriff but the sponsors of these bills. They have no proof, data, or evidence that substantiates their claims of “crack bears” and bears breaking into houses and destroying property.
At previous committee meetings, Lane Stephens alleged 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. This is not true; in fact, the FWC will tell you there is an abundance of natural food sources in the forests for bears.
Rep. Shoaf has said 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 has also brought up on numerous occasions 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 is because of overpopulation. That could not be further from the truth. He failed to mention that 78% of the bears killed during the 2015 Florida black bear 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 them 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.
It is important to note that killing bears or establishing a bear hunting season will not resolve bear-human conflicts. As long as attractants are present, another bear will come in place of the bear that was killed. If HB 87 and SB 632 become law, there is no limit to the number of bears that will be killed.
Lawmakers have disregarded the will of the people, undermined the FWC’s constitutional authority, and used fear-mongering and hypotheticals to villainize a species that has never killed anyone in the State of Florida.
Please research the facts and listen to the science.
-No one in the State of Florida has ever been killed by a black bear.
-Since 1900, only 61 people in North America have been killed by black bears.
-Unprovoked bear attacks are extremely rare. You are 45 times more likely to be killed by a dog, 120 times more likely to be killed by bees, and 60,000 times more likely to be murdered by another human being than to be 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." https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/wildlife/bear/living/myths/
-Florida black bears are predominantly vegetarian, with 80% of their diet consisting of plants, 15% insects, and only 5% animal matter, usually carrion. They are not the voracious man-eating carnivores that the people who wish to kill them would like you to believe.
-Research shows that securing trash and removing bear attractants can reduce bear-human conflicts by over 90%.
-You already have a right to self-defense if a bear poses a threat.
We want to commend the Representatives who voted against HB 87, in particular Rep. Waldron and Rep. Eskamani, for powerfully debating this bill.
Please email the Reps who voted against the bill and thank them.
katherine.waldron@myfloridahouse.gov, anna.eskamani@myfloridahouse.gov, robin.bartleman@myfloridahouse.gov, linda.chaney@myfloridahouse.gov, kristen.arrington@myfloridahouse.gov, lavonbracy.davis@myfloridahouse.gov, joseph.casello@myfloridahouse.gov, lindsay.cross@myfloridahouse.gov, dan.daley@myfloridahouse.gov, fentrice.driskell@myfloridahouse.gov, ashley.gantt@myfloridahouse.gov, peggy.gossett-seidman@myfloridahouse.gov, michael.gottlieb@myfloridahouse.gov, jennifer.harris@myfloridahouse.gov, Dianne.Hart@myfloridahouse.gov, yvonne.hinson@myfloridahouse.gov, christine.hunschofsky@myfloridahouse.gov, dotie.joseph@myfloridahouse.gov, tom.keen@myfloridahouse.gov, johanna.lopez@myfloridahouse.gov, angie.nixon@myfloridahouse.gov, michele.rayner@myfloridahouse.gov, felicia.robinson@myfloridahouse.gov, david.silvers@myfloridahouse.gov, kelly.skidmore@myfloridahouse.gov, david.smith@myfloridahouse.gov, susan.valdes@myfloridahouse.gov, patricia.hawkins-williams@myfloridahouse.gov, marie.woodson@myfloridahouse.gov
CALLS TO ACTION
Contact the Senators ahead of next week's floor vote. You can use info in this update, the petition, or previous updates in your email.
albritton.ben.web@flsenate.gov
avila.bryan.web@flsenate.gov
baxley.dennis.web@flsenate.gov
berman.lori.web@flsenate.gov
book.lauren.web@flsenate.gov
boyd.jim.web@flsenate.gov
bradley.jennifer.web@flsenate.gov
brodeur.jason.web@flsenate.gov
broxson.doug.web@flsenate.gov
burgess.danny.web@flsenate.gov
burton.colleen.web@flsenate.gov
calatayud.alexis.web@flsenate.gov
collins.jay.web@flsenate.gov
davis.tracie.web@flsenate.gov
diceglie.nick.web@flsenate.gov
garcia.ileana.web@flsenate.gov
grall.erin.web@flsenate.gov
gruters.joe.web@flsenate.gov
harrell.gayle.web@flsenate.gov
hooper.ed.web@flsenate.gov
hutson.travis.web@flsenate.gov
ingoglia.blaise.web@flsenate.gov
jones.shevrin.web@flsenate.gov
martin.jonathan.web@flsenate.gov
mayfield.debbie.web@flsenate.gov
osgood.rosalind.web@flsenate.gov
passidomo.kathleen.web@flsenate.gov
perry.keith.web@flsenate.gov
pizzo.jason.web@flsenate.gov
polsky.tina.web@flsenate.gov
powell.bobby.web@flsenate.gov
rodriguez.anamaria.web@flsenate.gov
rouson.darryl.web@flsenate.gov
simon.corey.web@flsenate.gov
stewart.linda.web@flsenate.gov
thompson.geri.web@flsenate.gov
torres.victor.web@flsenate.gov
trumbull.jay.web@flsenate.gov
wright.tom.web@flsenate.gov
yarborough.clay.web@flsenate.gov
Contact Governor DeSantis and respectfully ask him to VETO HB 87 and SB 632 "Taking of Bears" if it passes.
Phone: (850) 717-9337
Email: GovernorRon.Desantis@eog.myflorida.com
Watch yesterday's House Session. HB 87 starts at 37:22.
https://thefloridachannel.org/videos/2-15-24-house-session/
We appreciate all of your hard work to protect Florida's black bears. Thank you for taking action!