House Bill 87/Senate Bill 632 enables every person in Florida to become the judge, jury and executioner of Florida Black Bears if they feel the bear threatens them, their dwelling or their pet - even if the bear is in a forest.
HB 87/SB 632 usurps the powers of the FWC to manage and protect Florida's most beloved and iconic species. If signed into law, the Florida Legislature will take over the development of wildlife policy in Florida.
Legislators are not scientists. They are not biologists or ecologists. They do not have the skills necessary to make rational, long term decisions about our threatened wildlife.
Please call the Governor at (850) 717-9337 and ask him to Veto HB 87 - the bear killing bill.
1) The legislature is taking away the executive powers of the FWC to manage all wild animal life under the Florida Constitution.
2) The language goes beyond the “stand your ground” comparison by adding damages to a dwelling and injury to a pet.
3) The right to shoot a bear if one’s life is threatened is already part of common law and has provisions not laid out in HB 87/SB 632.
4) The people of Florida love their bears. An assault on those bears will be construed as an assault on all bear-loving citizens.
5) The Florida Black Bear is a threatened subspecies of the American black bear, numbering somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000. Ten percent of the entire Florida subspecies was killed in two days during the 2015 hunt.
6) The legislature cannot rescind this ill-advised legislation until it meets again in 2025. The subspecies may be extinct by that point if the killing trend from 2015 continues.
7) Republicans and Democrats are unified in their opposition to the bill. Only a small group of radical extremists are backing this bill.
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