More than 160,000 apply for Florida's first bear hunt in a decade, wildlife officials say

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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Florida's first bear hunt in a decade drew more than 160,000 applicants for a far more limited number of permits, including from opponents who are trying to reduce the number of bears killed.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will award 172 bear hunt permits by random lottery for the December hunt, down slightly from the 187 permits initially proposed. The permit allows a hunter to kill one bear in areas where the bear population is deemed large enough.

Florida has an estimated 4,000 black bears, wildlife officials say.

Applications were taken from Sept. 12 through Monday. FWC spokeswoman Shannon Knowles said in an email Tuesday that the agency received 163,459 applications, adding that it does not have records of how many applications it got for the 2015 hunt, which resulted in more than 300 bears killed in two days.

“We will collect and evaluate data that will be used to shape future hunts, such as the number of unused permits and hunter success,” Knowles said.

Several organizations opposed to the hunt, including the Sierra Club and Bear Defenders, encouraged people to obtain hunting licenses and apply for a bear permit they would never use.

“By our involvement in this lottery, bear lives will be saved. We won’t say how many until all the unused tags are turned in two weeks after the hunt ends," said Chuck O'Neal, president and founder of Speak Up Wekiva and Speak Up for Wildlife. “There are now thousands of animal advocates within FWCs database of licensed hunters who receive surveys on new hunting rules. That impact will be felt for decades.”

Opponents also sued to try to halt the hunt. A great deal of the debate has focused on whether the hunt is necessary.

There has been only one documented fatal black bear attack in Florida, the May mauling of 89-year-old Robert Markel and his daughter’s dog in a rural area. Officials in many parts of the state say potentially dangerous human-bear contacts are increasing, which environmentalists say is largely because people are encroaching on bear habitat.

The FWC says on its website that hunting is a proven way to control wildlife populations.

This year's hunting plan has more stringent rules than the 2015 hunt, in which permits were provided to anyone who could pay for them. That led to a chaotic event that was shut down days early. At least 38 female bears with cubs were killed, meaning the young bears probably died too.

This year's hunt will be held from Dec. 6 to Dec. 28. A permit costs $100 for Florida residents and $300 for nonresidents. No cubs or females with cubs are to be killed, according to FWC staff.

Private landowners with 5,000 acres (2,023 hectares) or more could hold what the FWC calls a “bear harvest program” on their property under the proposal. Bears could be hunted at bait feeding stations on private property. Also, bowhunting will be allowed under rules similar to those for deer.

In the future, the FWC foresees a bear hunt between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, subject to more studies about the effect of hunting and the population of the animals. In future years, hunters could use up to six dogs each to pursue bears.

Florida also allows hunting of alligators from mid-August to November, along with yearound removal of invasive pythons from private land and designated public land managed by the FWC. The state also has an annual python challenge offering prizes and recognition for capturing pythons in the Florida Everglades.