Urgent Update! Please click on our website link below to read the entire blog for more pressing information: On May 21, 2025, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) voted to forward new Florida black bear hunt rules with the anticipation of a hunt later this year. The Conservancy of Southwest Florida was one of 170 speakers who spoke about the proposed Florida black bear hunt. Present at the public meeting in Ocala, Florida, were those both in support of the hunt and those opposed, providing three hours of testimony to the appointed FWC Commissioners. After the testimony concluded, in a 4-to-1 vote, they advanced not only the bear hunt, but also alternatives for bear hunting with dogs, taking bear over bait, and a program that would allow large landowners special opportunities for bear hunting. The Conservancy’s comments focused on major areas of concern for southwest Florida: - The need to focus agency efforts on human-bear conflict reduction, which is achieved through managing trash and other food attractants. - How a hunt in the South Unit (which includes Lee, Collier, and Hendry counties) could diminish the dispersal of Florida black bears into the severely imperiled South-Central bear unit (just northward in Glades and Highlands counties), which is at risk of local extinction. - FWC’s bear population estimate research will be complete in just a few years, and it would be reasonable to wait until these studies are completed to ensure validity of the growth models used to set quotas. The Conservancy is uniquely positioned, as our region includes both the South Big Cypress unit as well as the imperiled South-Central Glades/Highlands unit. At last count, there were only 98 bears in the South-Central unit, fewer than prior estimates. For future generations of Floridians, FWC should ensure bears remain on the landscape there, yet the Hunt Zones that were advanced with the May 21st vote would allow hunting just a few miles away from the South-Central unit, across the Hendry County line to the south. The hunting could occur at the very places bears should disperse from, traveling north to the South-Central unit, where this subpopulation may become extirpated without additional bears. (fb)

Our Nature Center is closed today, May 22, to the public due to a power outage. We apologize for any inconvenience. Our von Arx Wildlife Hospital will remain open and accept admissions until 6 pm. Call 239-262-2273 for wildlife assistance. (fb)