Florida bear-hunting permits selling quickly
TALLAHASSEE – More than 600 permits to hunt bears this fall were sold by mid-afternoon Monday, the first day in more than two decades that such licenses have been available in Florida.
The sale of the special-use permits — available throughout the state at tax collectors' offices, online and at sporting goods stores that sell hunting and fishing supplies — began despite a lawsuit that was filed Friday against the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to try to halt the hunt.
"I do know the permits are being sold and being sold successfully," Diane Eggeman, director of the commission's Division of Hunting and Game Management, said Monday morning.
The state hasn't estimated how many permits — which cost $100 for Florida residents and $300 for non-residents — will be bought by Oct. 23, the day before the hunt begins.
The hunt is slated to last from two to seven days, depending on the number of bears killed.
Laura Bevan, southern regional director for the Humane Society of the United States, said people seeking permits are only doing so to get trophies, and she doesn't believe the state is doing enough to limit the number of bears that will be killed.
"All the hunters will go into the woods at the same time. We're really worried that it's going to be a slaughterhouse," Bevan said. "This is a (bear) population that only came off the threatened list 21/2 years ago. This is a population that's under pressure from development, from poaching, from all kinds of things, and now we're going to open up a hunt."
The state is seeking a 20 percent reduction in the bear population, which is estimated around 3,000.