The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has received 163,459 applications for the 172 permits it will award in a lottery for a planned Florida black bear hunt in December.
Daytona Beach News-Journal
https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/news/environment/2025/09/26/florida-bear-hunt-foes-buy-permits-hoping-to-lessen-kills/86325149007/
Katrina Shadix submitted 550 applications for bear hunting permits hours before the deadline to enter Florida’s lottery for the black bear hunt.
At $5 a pop, Shadix spent $2,750 on applications, but she’s the last person you’d expect to kill a bear.
Shadix, president of Bear Warriors United, is hoping to keep the permits away from those who do want to hunt bears.
It is another strategy in the fight against the bear hunt by Bear Warriors United, which has filed a lawsuit in Leon County Circuit Court against the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in an attempt to stop the hunt slated to start Dec. 6.
Shadix’s 550 applications are among the 163,459 submitted by the Sept. 22 deadline to the Conservation Commission for 172 available bear hunting permits to be awarded in an FWC lottery. And Shadix believes many of those applications are from people like her who oppose the hunt.
“And you know if these applications reflect the percentage of people in Florida who are against the bear hunt, that means 80% of those applications were purchased by people who will not use a bear tag to kill a bear, if they are chosen,” Shadix said.
Humane World for Animals cited a poll by the Remington Research Group which stated that 81% of Floridians oppose the bear hunt, according to a story published May 13 in the Daily Commercial.
An FWC poll breaking down public comments among 13,098 “self-selected participants” found that 75% opposed the bear hunt, 23% supported it and 2% were neutral or “don’t know.” Polls using self-selected participants can lead to bias, according to several sources on the internet.
Get the Afternoon Update newsletter in your inbox.
Stay connected to the news of the day.
Delivery: DailyYour Email
The Sierra Club’s Florida Chapter also urged opponents of the hunt to enter the permit lottery in hopes of winning as many of the permits as possible to deny them from licensed hunters.
Shadix said bears are already being killed off by vehicles and poachers and the hunt will only endanger the state’s bear population even more.
The December event would be the first black bear hunt since 2015 when 304 bears were killed in two days. The Conservation Commission had initially stated it would issue 187 black bear hunting permits for the December 2025 hunt, but the website now indicates 172 will be issued.
The FWC has not responded to questions asking why the number was reduced.
FWC: Permits intended for bear hunters
The Conservation Commission is aware of hunt opponents possibly applying for permits, wrote Shannon Knowles, communications director.
“The goal is to put the permits in the hands of those who will use them for hunting. We have heard that some groups opposing the hunt might potentially purchase permits. We have not seen this having an impact on previous hunts,” Knowles wrote in an email. “We will collect and evaluate data that will be used to shape future hunts, such as the number of unused permits and hunter success.”
Based on the $5 fee, the 163,459 applications generated $817,295 for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
In-state applicants who win hunting permits in the state lottery are required to pay $100 for the permit; out-of-state residents must pay $300.
Bear hunt opponent passes on vacation
Shadix said the money she spent on the bear hunt applications means she won’t be able to go on vacation with her son, who just became an officer in the U.S. Navy.
“We were going to go to Iceland and I just spent our vacation money to save bears,” Shadix said. “If we can save just one bear, it’s totally worth it.”
She said she had been waiting to see if Bear Warrior’s won an injunction in court to stop the hunt. But since that issue has not been decided yet she entered the lottery.
Shadix said it was easy to submit 550 applications on the Conservation Commission’s app, which had a field asking how many applications a person wanted. There was no limit on the number of applications and people could apply more than once.
She said she spent the money on the applications even though she is opposed as to how she says the Conservation Commission intends to use the money.
“It’s going to the state game trust, instead of to buying bear proof trash cans, true,” Shadix said. “Bear conservation is not killing, and the money going into the state game trust will be used to promote more killing of Florida’s wildlife, to which I’m opposed.”
Shadix said she will also be doing a “statewide call-to-action,” asking thousands of people to contact legislators asking that the money go to bear-proof trash cans.
She said the money went toward conservation during the 2015 bear hunt.
“That was the one thing they did right in 2015 with the bear slaughter, the one thing, and they’re not doing it this time. It’s indicative of a very mismanaged wildlife agency.”
The FWC’s Knowles responded in an email that “any money paid for permits will be used for conservation.”
Opponents: Floridians don’t want bear hunt
Raquel Levy, a Volusia County attorney who runs Atlantic Law Center, is one of the lawyers representing Bear Warriors.
“A far majority of those applications aren’t from people wanting to kill bears but from people trying to protect bears,” Levy said. “This sends a loud and clear message that Floridians do not want a bear hunt.”
She said bear advocates are demanding that the money raised from the applications be used for bear-proof trash cans and to protect bear habitats.
Bella Schwartz, a paralegal student at Daytona State College where she is president of the Pre-Law Society, has helped with the research on the lawsuit.
“It is so abundantly clear that Floridians don’t want a bear hunt,” Schwartz wrote in a text. “Look at all the people who applied for bear hunting licenses just to save them. It’s a beautiful thing and I feel a renewed sense of hope that justice will prevail.”
Exposing the Big Game 