State offers glimmer of hope to bear hunters

Hunters urged the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to allow bear harvesting as part of a new state Bear Management Plan unveiled last week in Apalachicola.

At FWC’s public meeting at Apalachicola City Hall Aug. 26 to gather input on the draft of the new plan, the mood was surprisingly calm when hunters and treehuggers squared off with FWC biologists who walked a tightrope between the two at the meeting.

About 25 people attended. Absent were representatives of any county or city governments.

Only three people requested to speak - Mickey Larkins, of Bristol, Charles Brannan, of Eastpoint, and Lesley Cox, of Carrabelle.

The most outspoken was Larkins, a vocational teacher and president of the Florida Bear Hunter’s Association, who voiced the concerns of many when he said there are already too many bears in northwest Florida.

Hunting of the Florida black bear is disallowed and was outlawed in 1994 by the Florida State Legislature.

“Hunting must be part of the plan,” he insisted and asked if living with bears in a bear-friendly community would increase the possibility of violent interactions. He warned that residents in Liberty County have already begun to take the bear problem into their own hands.

“I have bears running through my yard and some of them are injured, “Larkins said. “What will happen when they get all fevered up? I don’t want to see the bears get a bad name. Do I want to see the bears wiped out? No! The Apalachicola National Forest hasn’t shrunk, it’s grown. The land is going to be here for bears.”

Dave Telesco, the FWC’s bear management coordinator, said educating people about bears actually decreased the probability of injuries to humans and animals. “It’s not how many bears you have, it’s how many problems,” he said. “Perhaps we should reconsider calling it a ‘bear friendly community.’ Maybe ‘bear smart community’ is better.”

Dr. Perran Ross, a University of Florida wildlife ecologist, told Larkins he was a hunter. “You have to understand we are in the minority. There are also people who are very passionate about preserving these animals,” he said.

“You don’t always have to be politically correct,” Larkins responded. His comment drew support from several members of the audience.

Brannan, president of the Franklin County Dog Hunters Association, insisted hunting should be built into the plan as a control measure.

Telesco assured him the possibility of a hunt at some point is an option, and that local stakeholders would have a say in the decision. But, he added, FWC has the ultimate say in bear hunting. He pointed out that hunting has not ended human-bear conflicts in areas where it is allowed.

There were also voices supporting bear preservation.

Cox called for greater participation of the Florida Department of Transportation in providing safe highway crossing areas for wildlife. David Butler, of St. James, asked if forests could be managed to provide better forage.

Through it all, Ross and the other FWC representative stated repeatedly that the meeting was the first of many statewide and all stakeholders will be encouraged to give opinions about bear management.

“I was real pleased with the meeting,” said Kip Froelich, coordinator of FWC’s endangered species program. “It was a good dialogue. It was frankly nice to be able to talk to people, instead of listening to prepared statements.”

Fitting policy to local circumstances

Speaking in a telephone interview, Telesco said the plan “proposes a framework to manage bears at the local level. This includes conserving appropriate amounts of bear habitat, stabilizing the level of complaints about bears, and securing adequate funding to implement the plan.”

FWC staff drafted the plan with assistance from a technical advisory group that included representatives from environmental, hunting and government organizations.

The Florida black bear is designated a state-threatened species. Since protection measures were put in place, populations are expanding in some areas. In many places, bear-human interactions have increased.

Because bears contact humans under different circumstances based on factors such as the proximity and amount of good bear habitat, density of human population and type of activities in which humans are routinely engaged, the FWC proposes to create Bear Management Units (BMU) where bear policies can be tailored to local circumstances.

The Apalachicola BMU will be the largest area of prime habitat in the state. FWC estimates between 400 and 650 bears currently inhabit the area. The highest sustainable bear population for the Apalachicola BMU is around 900.

Within each BMU, local stakeholder groups would work with the FWC to set management objectives and standards for resolving human-bear conflicts.

“This was meant as an opportunity for people to comment both orally or in a written statement offline,” said Telesco. ”Some people don’t feel comfortable commenting online. If the plan is accepted, the next stage will be to seek out stakeholders to participate in advisory groups within each BMU. ‘

Telesco said seven more meetings are planned across the state including at least two in the Ocala area.  At each meeting, the FWC will give a brief presentation outlining the plan objectives and answer questions from attendees.

The ultimate goal of the bear plan is to conserve an adequate amount of functional bear habitat to support bear populations and create Bear Smart Communities, where residents, local government, businesses and schools all take part in reducing bear conflicts, stabilizing and maintaining core bear complaint levels, and securing adequate funding and staff to enable implementation of the bear conservation program.

The two most serious threats to bears are negative interactions with people, and habitat loss and fragmentation.

While hunting is mentioned as a control option, the plan does not propose a bear harvest. FWC acknowledges the controversial nature of bear hunting and plans to explore hunting as part of Florida's bear management program. Currently, black bears are protected in Florida and may not be harmed or killed.

Many of the comments on the plan posted online call for controlled bear hunts.

The plan does not address removing the Florida black bear from the list of protected species. It does acknowledge the need to continue outreach efforts to inform the public of residents' responsibilities to reduce human-bear conflicts.

Law enforcement and regulations, whether it comes from city, county or state entities, will be needed to ensure the level of responsibility by the public is both recognized and adequate to deter bears from seeking garbage or other attractants and thus reduce the negative encounters.

The plan will go into effect sometime in 2011 after FWC approval.