Greg Hilburn

Shreveport Times

• Louisiana is increasing black bear hunting permits from 11 to 26 for the 2026 season.
• The decision is based on population data and vital rates, with cubs and mothers with cubs off-limits.
• Hunting licenses and a $50 application fee are required, and a training course is mandatory for successful applicants.
• The Louisiana black bear population has rebounded to about 1,500 after near extinction in the mid-20th century.

Louisiana is more than doubling the number of permits to hunt the state’s iconic Teddy Bear after the first black bear season in two generations yielded a record specimen in 2024.

The Louisiana Black Bear Hunting Lottery is open now through Aug. 28, with 26 permits to be issued, up from the 11 permits issued during the inaugural hunt in 2024.

Louisiana’s Department of Wildlife and Fisheries officials said the bear population estimates and vital rate data were used to determine the number of bear harvest permits to be issued in each area. It will be illegal to kill cubs and females with cubs.

Deron Santiny of Lafayette landed the 696-pound trophy bear in Tensas Parish that was believed to be a record during last year’s inaugural hunt.

Though there are still some objections to creating a bear hunting season, LDWF’s John Hanks said the population supports the limited permits.

“We can certainly have a conservative harvest in limited areas,” said Hanks, manager of the large carnivore program, said in a previous interview with USA Today Network. “There are bears all over the state.”

Sponsored By FridayPlans

Walgreens Shoppers Say This $7 Generic Cialis Is Actually Worth It

Learn More

Louisiana’s black bear population all but disappeared in the 1950s and 1960s, but has recovered to include about 1,500 today. The bear was removed from the Endangered Species List in 2016.

Louisiana’s fabled black bear became part of American culture in 1902 after President Teddy Roosevelt refused to shoot one that had been trapped and tied to a tree by members of his hunting party.

Get the Daily Briefing newsletter in your inbox.

Start your day with the morning’s top news

Delivery: DailyYour Email

The episode was featured in a cartoon in The Washington Post, sparking the idea for a Brooklyn candy store owner to create the “Teddy” bear.

Today black bears roam the deep woods of the Tensas National Wildlife Refuge, Upper Atchafalaya Basin and other connecting corridors such as Three Rivers Wildlife Management Area, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Sponsored By FridayPlans

Walgreens Shoppers Say This $7 Generic Cialis Is Actually Worth It

Learn More

The bear’s Louisiana recovery was celebrated in 2015 during an event at the Governor’s Mansion that Theodore Roosevelt IV attended and the following year during a ceremony at the Tensas National Wildlife Refuge that then U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewel attended.

“I like to think this is partially a result of one of the greatest hunting stories in American history,” Roosevelt told USA Today Network in 2015.

Hunts will be restricted to properly licensed Louisiana residents by lottery. All successful applicants for the hunt will be required to attend a LDWF bear hunter training course.

Lottery applications are available only on the LDWF website at https://louisianaoutdoors.com/lottery-applications. Those interested in applying should update or create their customer details similar to buying a license and then submit an application. Possession of a valid black bear hunting license is required prior to applying for the WMA and the general Black Bear Lotteries. A $50 non-refundable application fee will be charged to each applicant. All applicants will be notified of their results via email.

Sponsored By FridayPlans

Walgreens Shoppers Say This $7 Generic Cialis Is Actually Worth It

Learn More

by Mark Chesnut – Monday, July 28, 2025

FacebookXShare

https://www.nrahlf.org/articles/2025/7/28/how-anti-hunting-groups-are-trying-to-use-banks-to-kill-your-way-of-life/

SUBSCRIBE

We reported recently how Citibank’s apparent reversal of its punitive policy of discriminating against companies in the firearm business was a big win for American hunters as well as all other lawful gun owners in the nation. The corporation’s announcement came amid a number of efforts at both the federal and state level to ban the practice of big financial institutions discriminating against certain industries they don’t consider to be politically correct.

Now the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the trade association for the firearm industry, is sounding the alarm on a move by animal rights groups to weaponize banks and other financial institutions against animal agriculture businesses. With those animal rights groups also dead set against legal, regulated hunting, it’s not hard to see where this effort could go next. In fact, as we’ve chronicled here before, the war on meat is a war on hunting.

Humane World for Animals (HWA), the new name for the group Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) that spends the vast majority of its donations on fat-cat salaries for its top executives, recently posted a blog on its website describing how an effort by banks to discriminate against just about any business involved in the meat industry—from ranchers to butchers—could result in decreasing the supply of meat-based protein.

“Financial institutions, both public and private, are pivotal actors in this system,” wrote Kitty Block, HWA president and CEO. “Their decisions shape which production models thrive, which innovations are scaled, and ultimately, what kind of food system is passed on to future generations. It is therefore immensely important that considerations of animal welfare and a shift toward plant-forward food systems are integrated into core financing and investing strategies.”

In the blog, Block admits that the whole idea behind pressuring banking institutions is so that fewer animals are killed for food, resulting in less meat available for Americans.

“Our goals are clear: Improve the lives of animals currently in production and stem the growth in the number of animals kept and killed for food,” she wrote.

Since animals are killed by hunters for food, there’s little doubt Block and her cronies will be putting pressure on banks to ostracize members of the hunting industry sometime in the future. And that would be devastating to hunters and wildlife populations, many of which are managed through hunters’ dollars.

Also in the blog, Block brags about how HWS staffers were included on a panel titled “How Can IFC (International Finance Corporation) Support the Shift to Sustainable Food Systems” at the World Bank meetings this spring.

“During the panel, IFC’s head of global agribusiness outlined several animal production practices the institution no longer finances … ,” Block wrote. “These exclusions, while not comprehensive, go further than many other financial institutions, over 100 of which reference IFC’s Environmental and Social Performance Standards in their own frameworks, which guide risk and impact assessments.”

Ultimately, Block and the HWA want banks and other financial institutions to take action to hurt the meat industry so that fewer animals are raised and killed for their meat.

“Financial institutions have a choice,” she wrote. “They can continue to fund systems that harm animals, people and the planet, or they can lead the transition to a more humane and sustainable future.” She underscored how this means incentivizing higher-welfare systems, disincentivizing harmful ones and shifting capital toward plant-forward food systems.

“We at Humane World for Animals are here to forge this path,” she concluded. “We will continue to engage in the IFC’s sustainability framework consultation to advocate for stronger animal welfare standards.”

IN THIS ARTICLE

How Anti-Hunting Groups Are Trying to Use Banks to Kill Your Way of Life Extremists’ goal is to shift capital toward support of plant-forward food systems