Animal advocates opposing Florida bear hunt seek to invalidate state officials’ vote
Bear Warriors United filed a lawsuit against the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
FWC commissioners to vote on December Florida black bear hunt
HAVANA, Fla. — Bear Warriors United, a nonprofit advocacy organization, filed a lawsuit against the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in opposition to the Florida black bear hunt.
Rachael Curran, a staff attorney at Stetson University College of Law’s Jacobs Public Interest Law Clinic for Democracy and the Environment, was representing the animal advocacy organization.
“In 2015, the FWC allowed, for the first time in decades, a hunt in which hunters killed 304 Florida black bears in 48 hours,” Curran wrote. “Although the overall quota of 320 bears killed was not exceeded, the harvest objectives in certain bear management units was exceeded. The FWC stopped the hunt after two days.”
“The proposed rule is invalid because it gives the FWC executive director, or designee, unbridled authority to issue permits to kill bears annually without any guidance or scientific facts,” Curran wrote in the lawsuit. “The FWC’s proposed action here is based on stale facts from a 2014-2015 bear population study and is directly contrary to FWC’s own 2019 Bear Management Plan and staff recommendations.”
During the FWC meeting, George Warthen, the commission’s chief conservation officer, said the proposal, requested by the commission in December 2024, considered Florida’s “current population estimate,” which he listed as old as 2010 in the Big Bend, 2014 in the Central area, and 2015 in the South.
“Bear populations are growing,” Warthen said during the meeting before the vote at the Pat Thomas Law Enforcement Conference Center.
Warthen said the staff recommended requiring permits and quotas, limiting hunting zones, establishing a time limit, and nurturing a private lands bear harvest program.
“The proposed rule is invalid because it impermissibly delegates the FWC’s important decision about continued bear hunts to an executive director or designee, not the seven constitutionally appointed and affirmed members,” Curran wrote in the lawsuit.
FWC George Warthen, the chief conservation officer of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, presented this slide during the commission's meeting on Wednesday in Havana, Fla. FWC George Warthen, the chief conservation officer of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, presented this slide during the commission's meeting on Wednesday in Havana, Fla. FWC George Warthen, the chief conservation officer of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, presented this slide during the commission's meeting on Wednesday in Havana, Fla. fwc George Warthen, the chief conservation officer of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, presented this slide during the commission's meeting on Wednesday in Havana, Fla. FWC George Warthen, the chief conservation officer of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, presented this slide during the commission's meeting on Wednesday in Havana, Fla. FWC George Warthen, the chief conservation officer of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, presented this slide during the commission's meeting on Wednesday in Havana, Fla. FWC George Warthen, the chief conservation officer of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, presented this slide during the commission's meeting on Wednesday in Havana, Fla. FWC George Warthen, the chief conservation officer of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, presented this slide during the commission's meeting on Wednesday in Havana, Fla. FWC George Warthen, the chief conservation officer of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, presented this slide during the commission's meeting on Wednesday in Havana, Fla. FWC George Warthen, the chief conservation officer of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, presented this slide during the commission's meeting on Wednesday in Havana, Fla. FWC George Warthen, the chief conservation officer of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, presented this slide during the commission's meeting on Wednesday in Havana, Fla. FWC George Warthen, the chief conservation officer of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, presented this slide during the commission's meeting on Wednesday in Havana, Fla. FWC George Warthen, the chief conservation officer of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, presented this slide during the commission's meeting on Wednesday in Havana, Fla. FWC George Warthen, the chief conservation officer of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, presented this slide during the commission's meeting on Wednesday in Havana, Fla. FWC George Warthen, the chief conservation officer of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, presented this slide during the commission's meeting on Wednesday in Havana, Fla. FWC George Warthen, the chief conservation officer of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, presented this slide during the commission's meeting on Wednesday in Havana, Fla. FWC George Warthen, the chief conservation officer of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, presented this slide during the commission's meeting on Wednesday in Havana, Fla. FWC George Warthen, the chief conservation officer of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, presented this slide during the commission's meeting on Wednesday in Havana, Fla.
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Andrea Torres
The Emmy Award-winning journalist joined the Local 10 News team in 2013. She wrote for the Miami Herald for more than 9 years and won a Green Eyeshade Award.
