Florida Hunters Massacred Nearly 300 Black Bears in Just Two Days

Florida's black bears once were nearly extinct. Now they've rebounded to the point where the state briefly allowed people to shoot them again.

The bears ranged across the entire state when Europeans first started settling there. By the 1970s, their population had fallen to about 300. But after state officials classified them as a threatened species and barred people from killing them, the bear population climbed back to about 3,500, the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) estimated.

That rebound led to the hunt that state conservation officials opened last week — and abruptly closed as hunters killed 295 of the animals in the first two days. FWC officials said hunters bagged a higher-than-expected number of bears in the eastern Panhandle and central parts of the state, suggesting the bear population in the Panhandle might be bigger than the roughly 600 once thought to live there.

The Florida black bear was taken off the state's threatened list in 2012. But in the decades they were protected, humans began encroaching on their habitats, with people on the edges of sprawling metro areas like Orlando occasionally bumping into bears who were digging through their garbage in search of food.

"We keep building houses where they live," said Don Anthony, spokesman for the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida, which argued against the hunt. "The reason you see a handful of bears now and then in neighborhoods is because people leave their garbage cans open, or they leave dog or cat food outside."

Last week's brief hunt was aimed at controlling the bear's population, the FWC said. But it cautioned that allowing bear hunting won't prevent conflicts with humans and urged people to secure their garbage in a shed or garage or buy bear-proof containers.

Four people have been hurt after encountering bears in recent years, while more than 200 bears have been killed by motorists, Eric Hellgren, chair of the University of Florida's Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, noted recently.

Anthony called the hunt a "slaughter," with hunters breaking numerous rules while shooting the largely docile animals. The FWC said it investigated several criminal violations during the hunt, including the killings of bears smaller than 100 pounds or the use of bait to lure the animals toward hunters.

"They are not used to seeing people in their habitats with guns, because that hasn't happened for the past several generations," Anthony said. "And they don't attack people — they are foraging for food."

Related: Hunters in Maine Are Legally Baiting Bears With Donuts — But Perhaps For Not Much Longer

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