Shame on the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC)

Shame on the Florida Fish & Wildlife “Conservation” Commission.
Shame on them for voting in a bear hunt when:
1. Science does not prove that one is warranted.
2. Many biologists that are not paid by the FWC have voiced opposition
3. Many environmental groups have voiced opposition to it.
4. The majority of the people of the state of Florida are against it.
5. It will not prevent or even help cut down on the number of human/bear
encounters and they have even admitted that.
6. The count for the number of bears will not be finished until 2016.
7. They have ignored the fact the a vital food source, the saw palmetto
berries have been taken away from bears by people harvesting for profit
for years.
8. The fact that this loss of food source has caused bears to go out of
their natural habitat in search of food.
9. That low food availability causes starvation, unhealthy weights, and
low reproduction.
10. That over 300 bears a year are killed by nuisance kills, road kills,
poaching, and other causes.
11. That the human population has not been well educated in bear safety
resulting in more calls and tragic events.
12. That the FWC continues to hold it’s one Black Bear festival devised
to educate people about bear safety in the same place every year
and no other places.
13. That there has been a lack in effort by the FWC to push for mandatory
bear proof trash cans in bear areas.
14. The board of commissioners is made up of land developers, ranch owners
and hunters. All biased with personal interests in a hunt.
15. The rules for the hunt go against the 1998 voter-approved constitutional
amendment that created the commission as an independent body “to conduct
management, preservation and conservation decision-making based upon sound science.
16. It went against the constitutional mandate to oversee the “management,
protection, and conservation of wild animal life and fresh water aquatic life”
when it put into effect new rules allowing itself to issue permits to kill Florida
black bears based on potential property damage. Article IV, Section 9 of the Florida
Constitution does not authorize FWC to regulate wildlife for the purposes of
reducing or preventing property damage.”