Help Bring Awareness to Proposed FL Black Bear Hunt - Leafletting Event

EVENT DETAILS:

The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is proposing another Florida Black Bear Hunt, possibly in December of this year. This is based on unreliable data and against the wishes of most Floridians. Please help us handout flyers to educate the public on how they can help our Bears. Join us at the St. Pete Saturday morning Market from 10am to Noon. IF enough people sign up, we may add another shift of 12-2pm. Please tell us what time you can come.

Some problems with the proposed Black Bear Hunt:

INCOMPLETE DATA – The reality is we do not know how many Black Bears we have in Florida. Bear population studies will not be completed until 2029-2030. Decisions made now could cause devastating losses in the current bear population. Yet, the FWC has mentioned allowing kills of up to 20% of the current population in some areas, which would be devastating.

UNRECOVERED POPULATION - Roadkill data suggests bears are still struggling to recover from the 2015 hunt. The reality is that 304 bears were killed in 2015, almost 60% were females, some could’ve been pregnant, 38 were lactating, meaning as many as 95 nursing cubs potentially also died.
The hunt was stopped in less than 48 hours due to the high kill rates. Florida Black Bears are timid and have never killed anyone. They are easily lured to bait, which may have been illegally used, and often do not appear to be afraid of humans, which makes them easy targets

PUBLIC OPPOSITION - Most Floridians oppose another bear hunt. The reality is that in 2015 thousands of Floridians were surveyed, and more than 75% opposed the hunt, yet the FWC proceeded with the devastating hunt anyway. The FWC MUST listen to the people!

WHAT YOU CAN DO:
1. Send your comments about the hunt directly to the Commissioners via email at: [commissioners@myfwc.com](mailto:commissioners@myfwc.com)

2- Join us on May 17, at the St. Pete Saturday market to help distribute flyers with information on what people can do to help stop the hunt

OR attend one of the protests scheduled around the state on the same date: https://www.beardefenders.org/protest-dates

3- Finally, this is VERY IMPORTANT, IF you are able, PLEASE join us at the live FWC meeting in Ocala on 5/21 when the final decision will be made about the bear hunt. We will be allowed to make public comments at that time. PLEASE RSVP on our already posted meetup calendar for that date.

Help protect Florida’s bears! Say NO to Black Bear hunting. Make your voice heard today!