TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Buses of Floridians rolled into Tallahassee on Monday as protesters rallied at the state Capitol, urging Gov. Ron DeSantis to stop Florida's first statewide black bear hunt in nearly a decade.
You could hear their opposition in chants echoing off the historic building and see it in homemade signs and costumes — including some dressed as bears.
WATCH BELOW: Florida residents protest upcoming bear hunt
"If there's a bear problem, it's because we're taking away their habitat. They have no place to go," said Leon County resident Linda Rivers.
Many in the crowd said the fight transcends party lines.
"This is not a Democrat versus Republican or whatever. This is a bunch of nonsense versus common sense," said Joe Humphreys of Sanford.
Sierra Club Florida helped mobilize supporters from across the state, bringing charter buses to the Capitol and calling on DeSantis to halt the hunt and protect Florida’s black bear population.
"Our members never give up. They know that it was a tough fight to win the state parks battle, but we did it, and so we're just here again, doing absolutely everything we can," said Cris Costello with Sierra Club Florida.
The demonstration comes one week before a high-stakes Nov. 24 court hearing. The nonprofit Bear Warriors United will ask a Leon County judge to block the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's 2025 season and its 172 permits through an injunction. The group alleges FWC and state biologists are wrong about bear numbers, arguing they are declining, not rising.
"This upcoming hearing is everything. We decide a week from today if Florida black bears are going to be saved and spared, or if they're going to be facing local extinction," said Raquel Levy, an attorney for Bear Warriors United.
Supporters of the hunt say the concerns are misplaced. They point to state data and an increase in bear encounters, some of them deadly, as justification for a limited harvest.
"Somebody is going to end up getting killed. There is just a lot of them getting closer to families and kids," hunter Rodney Roberts said in an earlier interview.
The International Order of T. Roosevelt is backing the hunt in court, arguing that "sound science" supports FWC's decision.
"If you don't manage them, Mother Nature will. It's going to result in disease and starvation and other problems that come as a result of an excess population not being managed,” International Order of T. Roosevelt CEO Luke Hilgemann said.
With the Dec. 6 opener just weeks away, the future of the season — and all 172 tags — will soon rest with a single judge. The injunction hearing will be held virtually on Monday, Nov. 24, at 2 p.m.
For now, both sides are battling in the court of public opinion.
