Experts: RFK’s Plan To Let Bird Flu Spread Through Chickens Could Trigger New Pandemic
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Changes to Ohio deer hunting limits
Backyard chicken trend growing as avian flu spreading: What to know
Managing Florida’s black bears now and for the future | Opinion
George Warthen
Your Turn
- Florida’s black bear population has rebounded from a few hundred to over 4,000, necessitating proactive management.
- FWC proposes a regulated bear hunt to control population growth, balancing it with available habitat.
- The proposed hunt would be limited by permits and focused on specific zones within the largest bear subpopulations.
When I think of what makes Florida an amazing place to live, I think of its wildness. From the cypress swamps in the south to the pinelands of the Panhandle, it’s a place like no other. Moments of early-morning quiet in a deer stand are some of my favorites to recall. I’m sure many of you have your own.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has an awesome responsibility to conserve the unmistakable identity that makes Florida so special. I am honored to be a small part of that effort alongside our amazing staff, who are among the best in the world at what they do.
Part of that responsibility is ensuring that Floridians and wildlife can all share this place now and into the foreseeable future. Science and experience tell us it’s sometimes best to solve looming problems before they become a greater challenge down the road.
The Florida black bear has come back from numbering just a few hundred decades ago to more than 4,000 bears today. It’s a conservation success story by any measure. We divide the population into seven groups, called subpopulations, and the four largest are all growing. None shows evidence of decline.
Population growth is good news for bears and the ecological systems they occupy, but wildlife managers need to keep an eye on the future. Bears have expanded their occupied range from 17% to 51% of the state since 1992, and while we have enough habitat to support them now, we expect that to change in the future as both the bear and human populations continue to grow.Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
In May, FWC commissioners voted to move forward with a final vote in August on reopening an annual bear hunt in Florida. Nearly every state or province in North America with resident black bear populations has regulated bear hunting, and Florida has the most black bears of the six states without it. In fact, Florida has more black bears than many states that have ongoing regulated bear hunts.
Our proposed hunt would start to slow population growth in strategic areas around the state, balancing species population growth with suitable habitat to maintain a healthy population. The number of bears that could be harvested would be set conservatively each year and would equal the number of permits that could be issued through a random drawing, ensuring the harvest objective is not exceeded.
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Bear Hunting Zones would be established within the four largest subpopulations’ ranges, including the East Panhandle. The East Panhandle BHZ would encompass all or parts of Bay, Washington, Jackson, Calhoun, Gulf, Franklin, Liberty, Gadsden, Leon, Wakulla and Jefferson counties. It would also include Apalachicola Wildlife Management Area, which would have its own hunting regulations.
The current East Panhandle subpopulation estimate is 1,060, with an annual growth rate of 11.9%, and 68 permits would be issued to hunt in that entire zone in 2025.
Hunting is an effective tool for managing wildlife populations around the world and is a key part of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation. This model is based on the idea that wildlife is a public resource, and with that shared ownership comes the responsibility to manage it using science-based decisions.
Hunting provides access to the resource, allowing hunters to use the meat, pelt, fat and other parts of any bear they harvest. The funds generated by permit sales would then be reinvested back into conservation. It addresses a need and benefits are created for everyone.
Human-bear conflicts will still need to be managed independently—hunting doesn’t accomplish that. Educating the public on preventative steps like securing attractants on their property or using bear-resistant trash cans will remain vital to reducing conflicts.
Hunting is about helping bears succeed over the long term in our state. It’s a way for us to guide an iconic Florida species into the future, for their benefit and ours.
Changes to Ohio deer hunting limits
Law repealing centuries-old Sunday hunting ban nears the finish line
Sunday hunting bill sent to governor’s desk
July 5, 2025
Staff Report
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WILKES-BARRE — Legislation that would fully repeal Pennsylvania’s Sunday hunting ban received its final supportive vote and will head to the governor to be signed into law.
House Bill 1431, which passed the state House of Representatives on June 11, then passed the state Senate last week, was brought before the House of Representatives for a final vote on concurrence. The bill passed by a 142-61 vote.
“This vote again demonstrates the broad support for this bill,” said Steve Smith, Game Commission executive director, noting the bill is backed by the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau and sportsmen’s groups across the Commonwealth. “The Game Commission has worked hard on behalf of Pennsylvania’s hunters to help get this bill across the finish line, which now is in sight.”
While Pennsylvania long has had Sunday hunting opportunities for foxes, coyotes and crows, and Act 107 of 2019 cleared the way for additional hunting on three designated Sundays, Sunday hunting otherwise is prohibited, one of the last remnants of the state’s “blue laws.”
Introduced by Rep. Mandy Steele, D-Allegheny, House Bill 1431 would remove the prohibition, helping to keep hunters engaged and providing the valuable service they do in managing the state’s wildlife populations.
If the bill becomes law, the Pennsylvania Game Commission will be authorized to implement additional Sunday hunting opportunities. Further information about when opportunities would be implemented will be released as it becomes available.
World War Three fears as NATO chief warns of joint Xi and Putin attack
RFK Jr Suggested Letting Bird Flu Run Through Farms – Experts Still Think It’s A Bad Idea
Experts ranging from vets to immunologists have made it clear where they stand on the suggestion.
Holly Large
- https://www.iflscience.com/rfk-jr-suggested-letting-bird-flu-run-through-farms-experts-still-think-its-a-bad-idea-79873?fbclid=IwY2xjawLWDXxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFZNjJPNTZNUEJLSmNkTW9PAR5j-qqvQZSjETdG99D-lIxAF3ZGkspmtHSQ7lH1sIkgEaq49tZ2gWV0VnXLBw_aem_TGYVJajNLPo-l7Jr_gdyGg
Jr Copy Editor & Staff Writer
EditedbyMaddy Chapman
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Earlier this year, US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr made a controversial suggestion as to how to tackle the problem of H5N1 bird flu: consider letting it run through poultry farms. Multiple experts criticized the idea – but where do they stand nearly four months later, with bird flu having continued to spread in animals? Turns out, they still think it’s a terrible idea.
Writing in a new policy forum, a group of five experts ranging from veterinary medics to immunologists detailed their reasoning as to why letting the virus “run rampant”, as they described it, is far from a viable plan.
“This approach would be dangerous and unethical. Allowing a highly lethal, rapidly evolving, and contagious virus to run a natural course of infection in poultry would lead to unnecessary suffering of poultry and put other susceptible animals on and near affected farms at risk,” the authors state.
Kennedy’s reasoning for allowing bird flu to spread unmitigated, as an alternative to culling or vaccinating, is that it might allow us to identify and preserve only those birds with immunity to the virus.
Alongside unnecessary suffering, the authors point out that this plan would not only rapidly decrease the genetic diversity of poultry in the US – which might leave them more vulnerable in the event of future pathogens arising – but may also have another long-term impact.
“Such a ‘let-it-spread’ strategy may identify small numbers of poultry infected by H5 influenza virus that do not develop severe disease for unknown reasons; however, these birds could serve as a new longterm reservoir for the virus,” they explain.
This provides the opportunity for H5N1 to become “a better pathogen”.
“Although it is not possible to fully predict future virus behavior, evidence suggests that there should be more (not less) worry about lapses in containment,” the authors write. “When a virus is given opportunity to freely infect a host, it often evolves to be a more efficient pathogen in that species. Therefore, selecting for resistant birds in the manner proposed by Secretary Kennedy may also increase the chances of H5 evolving to be a better pathogen in poultry.”
As well as the risks to poultry and other animals, the authors point out that there are dangers to humans, too.
“It would prolong exposure for farmworkers, which could increase viral adaptation and transmission risks for poultry, other peridomestic animals, and humans.”
As of July 1, the US has seen 70 confirmed human cases of bird flu since 2025, 24 of which were the result of exposure on poultry farms and culling operations, and 41 after exposure from dairy cattle herds. One of the 70 people infected died – the first such case in the US – after what is thought to have been exposure to the virus in both a backyard flock and wild birds.
In three of the confirmed human cases, the exposure source was deemed unknown, which has led to some speculation that the virus had begun spreading between humans – something that doesn’t yet appear to have happened.
“To date, humans have served as dead-end hosts for H5; however, the threat of these viruses acquiring the necessary mutations to support efficient human-to-human transmission has been the focus of much speculation, preparedness planning, policy debate, and research,” they wrote.
Back in February, Dr Robert Murphy, executive director of the Robert J. Havey Institute for Global Health at Northwestern University, told IFLScience that the possibility of seeing the virus spread between humans is “very likely”, with research having identified changes in the virus that may make it easier for it to infect human cells.
Still, the experts note that “the mechanisms by which avian influenza viruses of various subtypes adapt to become more humanlike are not fixed in the number or order of specific mutations (or reassortment events). There are insufficient data to accurately predict risk factors for host adaptation.”
But that still doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to let bird flu run wild. “It has been observed that the more virus circulating, the more opportunity exists for adaptation,” the authors say. In other words, if we let the virus run free, it increases the chance that it may pick up mutations that allow for transmission between humans.
So, if a “let-it-spread” approach isn’t feasible, what kind of plan is?
“There is no evidence that this virus will slow down,” the authors conclude. “Instead of letting it spread, which may dampen requirements or compliance with detection and reporting, we recommend enhancing case detection, reporting, and response to H5.”
“Not just to safeguard human health and address poultry welfare but for the safety of companion animal, livestock, and ecosystem health as well.”
The policy forum is published in Science.
Exposing the Big Game 
