Twelve state lawmakers sent a letter to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWC) executive director Nick Wiley this week, urging him to consider allowing limited bear hunting in some parts of Florida.  The request comes after two recent highly publicized bear attacks. 

 In the letter sent to Wiley, lawmakers pushed for increased bear safety education, steps to put more bear-proof containers in neighborhoods, and a limited hunting season in certain “hot spots.” Florida banned bear hunting in 1994 due to a swift decline in the state’s black bear population. The animal was considered a threatened species as early as 1974, when there were less than 300 bears still roaming the state. By 2014, biologists estimated that the population increased tenfold to over 3,000.

FWC director Wiley said that he is considering the lawmakers’ suggestions and noted that management hunts can be a useful tool. “I saw the letter as helpful,” he stated. “They offered up a broad range of ideas they thought were really important for us to consider.”