EcoAction Alert

March 29, 2024

Governor Ron DeSantis
The Florida Capitol
400 South Monroe Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32399

SUBJECT: Please Veto CS/HB 87 & Approve Bear Proof Refuse Container Funding

Dear Governor DeSantis:

Current Florida law allows anyone who feels threatened by a black bear to use lethal force to defend themselves. To our knowledge, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has never prosecuted anyone for killing a bear in self-defense. Most bear-human conflicts can be traced to individual bears that have learned to associate people with easy access to food. Whether the food source is residential refuse, backyard bird feeders or a beekeeper’s apiaries, the problem of nuisance bears can be effectively curtailed by simply denying them access to an easy meal.

HB 87 is a hasty and ill-conceived response to an apparent rash of bear-human conflicts in rural Franklin County, where the local government exercises very little control over the management of residential waste. In other regions of the state that have healthy bear populations, common sense adjustments to waste management practices, combined with public education campaigns, have proven to be successful in reducing conflicts with bears. The budget sent to you by the legislature includes funding that would allow Franklin County to administer a program to distribute bear proof refuse containers to their residents.

Please do not punish Florida’s black bears for our own mismanagement of household garbage. Veto CS/HB 87 and approve the funding that will allow Franklin County to implement an actual solution to their problem with nuisance bears. Thank you for considering our concerns.

Sincerely,

Mark Kateli, President
Florida Native Plant Society

cc: Representative Jason Shoaf