UPDATE:
Florida’s first statewide black bear hunt in nearly a decade is moving forward after a Leon County judge refused to grant a preliminary injunction Monday. The group, Bear Warriors United, filed the temporary injunction looking to block the hunt. The court ultimately sided with state wildlife officials, ruling their population data and management plan were sound and justified the issuance of 172 hunting tags.
According to the Florida Channel, under the plan, hunters who received permits through a lottery-style process will be able to kill one bear, with a maximum total of 172 bears killed.
Lawyer Raquel Levy, who represents Bear Warriors United, released a statement saying,
"I’m extremely dissatisfied, on so many levels, with how the hearing turned out yesterday."
The Sierra Club Florida released a statement on this decision, saying in part,
"This ruling is a serious setback for Florida’s wildlife and for the countless Floridians who have worked tirelessly over the past year to stop this cruel and unnecessary hunt. The science is clear, the public has spoken, and nothing about this decision changes the facts: Florida does not need a bear hunt."
The hunt is set for December 6th.
Original:
Buses of Floridians rolled into Tallahassee on Monday as protesters rallied at the state Capitol, urging Gov. Ron DeSantis to stop Florida’s first statewide black bear hunt in nearly a decade.
You could hear their opposition in chants echoing off the historic building and see it in homemade signs and costumes — including some dressed as bears.
Watch full report from Forrest Saunders
"If there’s a bear problem, it’s because we’re taking away their habitat. They have no place to go," said Leon County resident Linda Rivers.
Many in the crowd said the fight transcends party lines.
"This is not a Democrat verses Republican or whatever. This is a bunch of nonsense verses common sense," said Joe Humphreys of Sandord.
Sierra Club Florida helped mobilize supporters from across the state, bringing charter buses to the capitol and calling on DeSantis to halt the hunt and protect Florida’s black bear population.
"Our members never give up. They know that it was a tough fight to win the state parks battle, but we did it, and so we're just here again, doing absolutely everything we can," said Cris Costello with Sierra Club Florida.
The demonstration comes one week before a high-stakes Nov. 24 court hearing. The nonprofit Bear Warriors United will ask a Leon County judge to block the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s 2025 season and its 172 permits through an injunction. The group alleges FWC and state biologists are wrong about bear numbers, arguing they are declining, not rising.
"It's everything. So more than important this upcoming hearing is everything we decide a week from today, if Florida black bears are going to be saved and spared, or if they're going to be facing local extinction," said Raquel Levy, attorney for Bear Warriors United.
Supporters of the hunt say the concerns are misplaced. They point to state data and an increase in bear encounters, some of them deadly, as justification for a limited harvest.
"Somebody is going to end up getting killed. There is just a lot of them getting closer to families and kids," hunter Rodney Roberts said in an earlier interview.
The International Order of T. Roosevelt is backing the hunt in court, arguing that "sound science" supports FWC’s decision.
"If you don't manage them, a mother nature will. It's going to result in disease and starvation and other problems that come as a result of an excess population not being managed," said the group’s CEO, Luke Hilgemann.
With the December 6 opener just weeks away, the future of the season — and all 172 tags — will soon rest with a single judge. The injunction hearing will be held virtually on Monday, November 24 at 2:00 p.m.
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