With over 4,000 black bears calling Florida home, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is considering reinstating regulated black bear hunting. The agency will host a virtual public meeting on March 13 at 6 p.m. ET to gather comments about black bear hunting in the Sunshine State.

Bear populations have been on the rise with current numbers 2.5 to 5 times over objective, according to FWC. While there is currently no black bear season in Florida, the state did allow regulated hunting until 1994. Hunting was then suspended for nearly two decades before the state allowed a black bear hunt to take place in 2015, according to Mid Bay News. 

There hasn’t been a black bear hunt allowed in the state since.

The recent proposal follows a five-year review of FWC’s 2019 Black Bear Management Plan, which highlighted the progress of bear management efforts. While it can certainly be called a conservation success story, considering only there were only a few hundred black bears back in the 1970s, robust bear populations have also led to a 42% increase (since 2016) in bear-related calls (some good, some bad) and the allocation of $2.1 million from local government purses to fund bear-proof trashcans and “bear aware” information and education, according to the Leesburg Daily Commercial.

The meeting will be accessible through MyFWC.com/Hunting by selecting “Florida black bear.” If you can’t attend the meeting, you can also send comments directly to BearComments@MyFWC.com.

Do you think Florida should hold a black bear hunt?