(This article is written by Alex Foxx. )
As Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) gets ready to announce another bear hunt, many questions have been raised with not many satisfactory answers generated. Last year, a minimum of 655 F…
Source: Nowhere to Turn: The Plight of the Florida Black Bear
This is just a few of the areas and reasons FWC killed some of our bears in 2015.
Nick Wiley did not disclose that he is the executive director of FWC in the recently published article he wrote to the Orlando Sentinel. As executive director he is clearly
biased and so that articlle should be read as tongue in cheek, or fingers crossed behind the back.
Regarding the number of bear calls in 2002 – The bears were still on the endangered list.
In 2015 – The bears were not and FWC was asking people to call if they even saw a bear!
I’d say they were working their spin to get people to agree to a hunt. Not that people’s opinion matter but it’s better to instill fear, such as Marion Hammer with the NRA just did by saying bears are terrorizing our neighborhoods! What a lie! And that’s all we get from such hunting biased organizations and people.
The count of 4,350 did not deduct the over 600 bears killed last year!!! How’s that for spinning the truth?
I’m sick of all the lies just to try to justify a hunt that should not take place to please the mere 1% of the hunting populace in the state.
The bears are wandering out of their areas because people are feeding them and the forest are being dozed down. The oaks trees are being replaced with long-leaf slash pine which offers no food. The saw palmetto berries are being raped by illegals who sell them to the pharmaceutical industry. Wiley failed to emphasize the enormous problem there is with that! Omission of truth is lying!
Wiley mentioned the number of road kills. This in itself is controlling the numbers of bears along with the 129 that FWC killed last year and natural deaths. No need for a hunt.
We have “thousands of human-bear conflicts a year?” Seriously? A person seeing a bear in their yard is NOT a conflict! Keep it real. When you say these thing you know people are going to think there was interaction and that people were in danger! Shame on you!
Bears have increased all over the United States. Not just Florida. It’s not so much to do with FWC as it is with nature. And left to their own, nature will take care of the populations and control them.
For those reading this who do not know, “conservation” according to FWC includes hunting – killing. They do not “conserve.” They are mandated to provide hunting opportunities for hunters. That is their job!
The reason for Nick Wiley writing this article is to make the public trust the FWC in making the decision for having another bear hunt. Pure and simple.
Unfortunately, The Orlando Sentinel did not allow people who are not subscribers to even comment on this article. Guess they need the money.
If you want the truth about the bear hunts and the FWC, join a Facebook group devoted to them.
People owe it to our wildlife to be educated and fight for their lives.
FWC has had a “one and done” policy when it comes to nuisance bears.
This means that if they get a call from Joe Schmo that there is a bear in his
garbage, the FWC will come out and trap the bear and take it off and kill it.
Sometimes this includes mother bears with their cubs.
All of the incidents pictured below have two things in common. The people live in areas where bears are known to be and the people do not live “bear smart.”
Many people balk at having to buy bear proof trash cans. Other’s can’t afford them.
But there are programs to help people get them. A lot of money has been allocated
for these purposes. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be happening.
The photos below show evidence of lack of responsibility of home owners and the
FWC taking the easy way out to solve the “nuisance.”
FWC isn’t calling for a hunt because there are too many bears.
The bears that are nuisances will continue to visit. The
ones deep in the woods, nobody sees except for hunters.
So why call for a hunt?
Obviously it is so the hunters can get their jollies off killing
those bears. And the nuisance bears will satisfy FWC killing lust when they
euthanize them.
Selling permits for hunters to kill the bears is another plus as
it brings money into the FWC. Hunters support FWC financially
and verbally. They are buddies.
Hunting has been on a decline so FWC has beefed up their
promotion of hunting to kids and women. They offer camps
and other events to introduce them and get them interested
in hunting, if they haven’t already done that by a hunter in the
family.
While part of FWC’s job is to provide hunting opportunities to hunters
and secure land for them to hunt on they are finding it hard to
keep their funds floating. They have many fund raising events
and have an extension called, “The Fish and Wildlife Foundation
of Florida.” This agency has FWC Nick Wiley on it’s board
along with ex-commission Richard Corbett who quit FWC when
the 2015 hunt debacle got too hot for him to handle.
The FWFF sells things to promote itself as well as hunting wildlife,
like hunting liscense plates. It also sells items to the nature loving
crowd, like binoculars and other equipment.
The depth of fund raising, grants, sales etc. I wouldn’t begin to
know for it seems that the FWC just morphs itself into other agencies
to promote itself. I can’t keep up with all of them.
Saying there are too many bears that there must be a hunt isn’t enough
in my book. Show us where the bears are starving, having genetic problems,
males are eating the cubs (that happens anyways.) That’s why cubs
need their mothers. But FWC allows for the killing of lactating females.
They want us to believe they care about the bears but nothing they do
proves it. They don’t care about cubs.
Smokey Jr., who got singed in a recent wildfire in Lake County caught the
attention of the public and the FWC had to do the right thing by it to make
the public believe that it cares. Yet they themselves kill cubs. This
is an outrage that this agency gets away with murder. Literally.
I find it funny that the FWC has hunters that go around promoting it and it’s practices in order to keep the court of public opinion finding favor on it. Sadly for them, it’s not working. They are hated more than ever and this will only grow as they continue to turn their blind eyes and deaf ears on those who are against the bear hunts.
We hope and pray that this will be the end to the senseless hunting of our beloved black bears in Florida.
Banner photo credit: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
The Centre for Biological Diversity has released a statement (17 March 2016) regarding the plight of the black bear in Florida.
As you may recall, last October 2015, there was a black bear massacre in Florida, with an open multi (7) day hunt, the first such ‘legal’ hunt in 21 years. There was no ‘science’ to back the bear hunt in Florida.
“Despite the visible impacts of habitat loss and fragmentation, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (“FWC”) in 2012 removed the bear from the state’s threatened species list, calling its management of the species a success story” – The Centre for Biological Diversity
Old, young, males, mothers – all were ‘legal’ targets for the noble hunter, but bears greater than 100lbs “recommended” and “no cubs near by” duly noted. But during the onslaught who knows…
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Dr. Denise Albert was able to remove a snare from around a wolf’s neck and treat the animal with antibiotics. NPS photo Warning Graphic Photos and Videos July 16, 2014 This is Joy Williams timeless…
Source: The Killing Game by Joy Williams
