Lawmakers want more bear-hunt money for prevention

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – House members want the state to use more of the money raised from an upcoming bear hunt to help reduce conflicts between the wild creatures and humans.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has asked to use $125,000 for education and prevention from the more than $200,000 that has already been generated by the sale of bear-hunting permits. Permit sales will continue until Oct. 23, a day before the controversial hunt begins.

Recommended Videos



Members of the House Agriculture & Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee on Thursday called that budget request "meager."

"I think the effectiveness of the education and outreach programs, and to deal with the fact that we're all of a sudden occupying what used to be the bears' home, is going to be a huge, huge benefit, and I'd really like to support that effort financially," said Rep. Ray Pilon, R-Sarasota.

Rep. Kristin Jacobs, D-Coconut Creek, added that the focus of the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission needs to be on changing human behaviors.

"Having spent the summer in Yosemite, where you have lots of bears, the answer is not to shoot the bears, it's to put in bear-proof receptacles," Jacobs said.

Visitors to Yosemite National Park in California face requirements for storing food, with metal food lockers available at all campsites and most trailhead parking areas, according to the federal park's website.

Jacobs said she wanted the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to direct money for preventive measures, such as bear-proof trash containers, to communities where there are greater chances of bear-human conflicts.

"There doesn't seem to be a correlation between where the permits are being given to where the problems lie," Jacobs said. "I'm not too sure that killing bears in one part of the state, when the problem lies in another, is actually the solution. The solution again is helping people change their ways and giving them the physical ability to change their ways as well."

Charlotte Jerrett, the commission's chief financial officer, told lawmakers that the $125,000 requested for next year's budget is "a placeholder."

"When we first developed this request, the revenues were still coming in," Jerrett said.

As of Monday, the agency had raised more than $218,000 through the permits. It had issued 2,110 permits, with 39 going to out-of-state residents and the rest bought by Floridians. The cost of a permit is $100 for Floridians and $300 for out-of-state residents.

The hunt will last from two days to seven days in four regions of the state, with each region having a quota of bears that can be killed. After the second day, the hunt will be halted in each region when its quota is reached.

The target is 100 bears each in the Central region, which includes the St. Johns River watershed to the Ocala National Forest, and in the North region, which goes from Jacksonville west to Hamilton and Suwannee counties. The quota is 40 in an eastern Panhandle region, which includes the northwestern Big Bend area to west of Apalachicola Bay. In a South region, which includes Broward, Collier, Hendry, Lee, Miami-Dade, Monroe, and Palm Beach counties, the quota number is 80. The South region excludes the Big Cypress National Preserve.