Defend Florida black bears: Urge Gov. DeSantis to veto HB 87

There is an urgent need to protect Florida’s black bears from being killed – we’re calling on all of Florida to take action right away!

HB 87 is a deadly new bill that would legalize a “shoot first, ask questions later” approach to interacting with Florida black bears. The bill would allow bears to be killed for perceived threats to people, pets or property – potentially including trash cans and bird feeders.

Governor Ron DeSantis is currently deciding whether to veto this bill. We need to make sure he hears from concerned Floridians that we oppose this dangerous bill that threatens public safety and will only lead to unnecessary injuries and death of bears, other wildlife and people.

Act Now: Send a message urging Gov. DeSantis to veto HB 87 and to take effective action to protect wildlife and our communities!

*You can increase your impact by reaching out to Gov. DeSantis’s office at (850) 717-9337 and urging him to veto HB 87. You can say something like "As your constituent, I urge you to veto HB 87 to protect Florida's bears and people from senseless killing. We don’t need a new law to allow people to defend themselves against wildlife since they already have the right to do so under Florida law."*

Message

Governor

Ron

DeSantis

Dear Governor DeSantis,

As a Floridian and as a Defender of Wildlife, I am writing to respectfully urge you to please VETO HB 87– the Taking of Bears Act. Floridians value wildlife and our state’s natural heritage. Please veto this unnecessary, unwarranted, and unconstitutional Act.

Florida black bears are recovering from past decades of overhunting and destruction of their habitat. Increasing residential development and associated roadway networks within their forested habitats have put people and bears into closer proximity creating a range of issues from perceived threats such as seeing a bear at the edge of the forest to being a potential threat to public safety from food-conditioned and habituated bears.

HB 87 permits any person to use lethal force and kill a Florida black bear he or she perceives as a threat to people, pets, and property. Florida already allows any person to defend themselves against imminent harm from any animal. We have grave concerns that this Act will increase the chance of Floridians being shot in their neighborhood by a stray bullet from someone shooting at a bear. This Act does not address the primary reason for most human-bear incidents, which is unsecured trash which attracts bears out of their natural habitat into neighborhoods and near homes leading to interactions with humans and pets. The unfortunate result of this Act is to protect people from prosecution who prefer to kill bears rather than secure their trash.

FWC has the expertise and the tools to manage food-conditioned and habituated bears. FWC’s current enforcement policies emphasize helping the public to take personal responsibility for eliminating attractants and thereby reducing or eliminating conflicts with bears. While wildlife officers can and will cite people who repeatedly fail to secure their trash after warnings, this unwarranted and unnecessary Act will instead proceed first to sentencing food-conditioned and habituated bears a death sentence for a human-caused problem.

Additionally, this Act is unconstitutional. Article IV, section 9, of the Florida Constitution establishes the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and grants the FWC the regulatory and executive powers of the state concerning wild animal life, freshwater aquatic life, and marine life. This Act violates this provision of the constitution because it specifies that a person who kills a bear under ill-defined conditions is not subject to any administrative, civil, or criminal penalties under certain circumstances.

This Act, if not vetoed or if the Act is not challenged on constitutional grounds, establishes a dangerous precedent for the Florida Legislature to authorize unregulated killing and harassment of other wildlife species in neighborhoods such as the endangered Florida panther and more abundant species such as coyotes and raccoons by untrained residents.

Instead of enacting this law, the Legislature should appropriate funding to Franklin and other rural and underserved counties to enable regular trash pick-up and provide bear-secure trash receptacles which would effectively eliminate human-bear interaction and the need for this Act, which will have statewide implications, including in densely populated neighborhoods. We urge you to approve funding appropriated by the state legislature to address the heart of the issue — $600,000 for waste management and attractants in Franklin County, as a start that should be applauded and replicated.

Florida residents do not need a shoot-first - ask questions law that threatens public safety and does not address the primary reason for human and wildlife interaction. Please veto this unnecessary, unwarranted, and unconstitutional Act.

Sincerely,
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