Hillsborough County Commissioners are not known for fostering a spirit of crunchy progressive thought at the dais (OK, maybe one is…).
So it was at first shocking when the most conservative of the bunch, Commissioner Stacy White (whose district largely comprises the county's blood-red rural areas) brought forth a proposed resolution asking the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to reconsider its controversial bear hunt, which may once again take place throughout the state.
“I am an avid outdoorsman and I enjoy hunting. So this is coming from the perspective of a hunter,” White said. “The resolution is very much written through the lens of a hunter and someone who does indeed believe in hunting as an important conservation tool.”
It was a resolution his colleagues unanimously passed 6-0 with essentially no discussion.
The move comes on the heels of FWC's consideration of another hunt to cull a supposedly-growing black bear bear population throughout the state. In October of last year, more than 300 bears were killed in the hunt; about a third were lactating mothers. The hunt was scheduled to last a week, but was shut down after days because so many were killed.
Ostensibly with the intent of curbing conflicts between black bears and humans in residential developments in or near bear habitats, all but one of the FWC commissioners supported the hunt last summer, despite there being no accurate population estimates for the species, which was just taken off the protected species list in 2012.
“Some say the facts support a hunt, and my analysis of the facts tell me otherwise, and my position is substantiated by many in the ecological and wildlife communities,” white said. “At best, commissioners, at best, the facts aren't definitive enough in either direction and in that case it's wise to err on the side of caution and not hold additional hunts until more facts are available.”
And, he said, even if current estimates are accurate — over 3,000 statewide — that's still not a huge population, considering there are a million alligators, 700,000 white-tailed deer and possibly millions of wild hogs throughout the state; it's much easier to justify hunting them.
Quite a few people came to speak for and against the resolution, which is non-binding.
Those who spoke against it (and in favor of the bear hunt) said shooting bears in the woods is a useful tool for managing their numbers and preventing possibly harmful interactions between humans and black bears.
“Because we care about black bears, we also must face the fact that thriving bear populations translate very real and sometimes serious conflicts with people," said Tom Graef, regional director for FWC's southwest regional office. "Successfully dealing with human-bear conflicts depends heavily on strong partnerships between local governments and the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.”
Some criticized the commission for passing such a resolution, because there's no black bear population to speak of in Hillsborough County.
“You know, y'all really don't have a dog in this fight. The Hillsborough County Commission has no business proclaiming an anti-conservation of this hunt. Hunting is a conservation tool,” said Captain Phil Walters of gatorguides.com. “Think of this: your peers in small counties, small towns up in the Panhandle and the central part of the state. They have to deal with these bears… How would you like to wake up in the morning, take your kid to the bus stop and there's a 500-pound bear, a predator, at that bus stop?”
Opponents of the hunt pointed out that the bears being killed deep in the woods are not the ones scavenging through people's garbage in exurban neighborhoods, and that human-bear conflicts could be prevented by properly securing garbage (or, you know, not living in developments carved out from bear habitats).
"The bear population that is being targeted is not the population that is causing the problems with humans," said veterinarian Betsy Coville. "The key to this is education for bear management, not killing.”
Megan Sorbo, a 10-year-old Orlando resident who testifies against hunting bears at meetings throughout the state (and has made quite a name for herself in doing so) made the trip to encourage the commission to pass the resolution.
“The bear hunt that took place in 2015 was wrong for many reasons, the top three to me being, one: the kill quota was set for 300 bears," she said. "The most sickening problem was that there were 3,778 hunting licenses sold, which is more than the entire estimated bear population in the state at the time. Two: out of the 304 bears killed there were 38 females killed…Third: last week, Ms. Shannon Wright from the FWC told the Brevard County Commissioner that the FWC decided that the best way to deal with increasing human-bear conflicts was to have a hunt. However, the FWC's own bear biologist … testified last year that a hunt would not reduce human-bear conflict.”
This article appears in Jun 2-8, 2016.