By Philip Blenkinsop and Sybille de La Hamaide

May 19, 20254:55 AM PDTUpdated 11 hours ago

This official from the state’s agriculture secretariat says all chickens have been eliminated from the farm, and disinfection is under way.

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BRUSSELS/PARIS, May 19 (Reuters) – Brazil, the world’s largest poultry exporter and main poultry meat importer into the European Union, is no longer allowed to ship poultry and meat products to the EU due to the outbreak of bird flu, the European Commission said on Monday.

This comes after Brazil confirmed its first outbreak of bird flu on a poultry farm on Friday, triggering protocols for a country-wide trade ban from top buyer China and state-wide restrictions for other major consumers such as Japan.

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“EU import conditions require that the country of export (Brazil) is free of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza,” a European Commission spokesperson said in an email.

“Brazilian authorities can no longer sign such animal health certificates for export into the EU and such certificates cannot be issued. No poultry/meat products can be exported to the EU from any part of the Brazilian territory.”

Brazilian Agriculture Minister Carlos Favaro said on Friday that under existing protocols, countries including China, the European Union and South Korea would ban poultry imports from Brazil for 60 days.

Item 1 of 2 A drone view shows an excavator moving earth next to a hole in the ground at a poultry farm, after Brazil confirmed its first outbreak of bird flu on Friday, triggering protocols for a country-wide trade ban from top buyer China and state-wide restrictions for other major consumers, in Montenegro, Brazil May 17, 2025. REUTERS/Diego Vara/File Photo

[1/2]A drone view shows an excavator moving earth next to a hole in the ground at a poultry farm, after Brazil confirmed its first outbreak of bird flu on Friday, triggering protocols for a country-wide trade ban from top buyer China and state-wide restrictions for other major consumers, in… Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab Read more

But the Commission did not give any timeframe. It noted that because of the outbreak, which was detected on a farm in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, the entire territory of Brazil had suspended its official status of being “free of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza”. EU import conditions require that an export country be free of HPAI.

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The EU is only a small market for Brazil, which is dominated by China, the United Emirates, Japan, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.

In 2024, Brazil exported more than 5 million tons of poultry meat. Of these approximately 4.4% headed to the EU, national pork and poultry group ABPA said.

Of total EU poultry imports, Brazil is the main origin, with a share of 32% last year, according to official EU data. However, the volume remained rather thin with most of the EU consumption supplied locally.

Still, despite the small volumes the cheaper, high added-value, Brazilian imports have pressured EU prices. A halt in imports is therefore likely to come as a relief for the local poultry industry.

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/brazil-can-no-longer-export-poultry-meat-eu-due-bird-flu-2025-05-19/

The US hasn’t seen a human bird flu case in 3 months. Experts are wondering why

Lianna Norman

USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida

https://www.marconews.com/story/news/local/2025/05/18/gator-season-hunters-look-forward-to-preying-on-this-florida-predator/83715109007/

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• Florida’s alligator hunting season runs from August 15 to November 8, 2025.
• Permits are awarded via a multi-phase application process that started on May 2 and continues through June.
• Costs for licenses, permits, and tags vary for residents and non-residents.

Every May, thousands of Florida hunters look forward to preying on one of the state’s most iconic predators.

Summer doesn’t just bring alligator mating season – which often leads to gators popping up in unwanted places – but it also brings the application season for the yearly statewide alligator harvest.

It doesn’t get more Floridian than hunting gators … Unless, of course, you’re planning on wrestling an alligator while barefoot on a Florida highway. Here’s what you need to know ahead of the 2025 alligator hunting season in Florida, how to apply for alligator hunting permits and tags and how much it costs.

Alligator hunting season dates: When is gator hunting season in Florida?

Florida’s gator hunting season begins on August 15 and ends on November 8.

The season is broken up into four harvest periods. Depending on which harvest period you draw, you’ll be assigned to hunt for one of the first four weeks. 

Each person who’s selected to win a gator hunting permit is allowed two gators during their allotted harvest time. If you don’t harvest both of your gators during your assigned harvest week, you can hunt during the seven-week open season, which starts on September 12 and ends on November 8.

The first application phase for the first harvest periods started on May 2 and will end on May 12.

Here are the dates for each application phase, according to the FWC:

• Phase I: May 2 through May 12, anyone may apply
• Phase II: May 16 through May 26, you can’t apply in Phase II if you were awarded a permit in Phase I
• Phase III: May 30 through June 9, you can’t apply in Phase III if you were awarded a permit in Phase II
• Phase IV (Leftovers): June 12 until all permits are sold out. Anyone may apply in this phase. If you were awarded a permit in any of the first three phases, additional permits drawn in Phase IV will cost $62, regardless of residency.

“Applicants may submit one application per phase and receive up to one permit in Phase I, II, or III of the application process. Those successful in any one of the first three phases cannot apply for additional permits until Phase IV Leftovers,” the FWC says.

“In the Phase IV Leftovers period, applicants can be awarded up to 10 permits cumulatively. Permits are issued by random drawing during Phase I, II, and III and issued on a first-come, first-served basis in Phase IV Leftovers.”Alligator mating season: Can I shoot a gator in my yard? Florida wildlife laws to know

How much is an alligator tag in Florida?

There is no cost to apply for an alligator trapping license in Florida, but if your application is approved you have to pay. And there are different prices for out-of-state hunters and Florida residents.

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Applying does require credit card information so that your card can be authorized, but you won’t be charged unless you’re approved and picked in the drawing.

If you’re a Florida resident, an alligator trapping license, a permit and your two permitted alligator tags will cost you $272.

If you already have a valid alligator trapping license, your permit and tags for the season will only cost you $62.

If you’re not a Florida resident, an alligator trapping license, a permit and your two permitted alligator tags will cost significantly more, at $1,022, according to the FWC.

How many gator tags does the FWC give out?

Florida’s statewide alligator hunt is highly-anticipated for a lot of Florida hunters and there are typically more applications than licenses and tags permitted. 

According to the FWC, there are often more than 15,000 applicants who will apply for the approximately 7,000 permits available each year. 

Who can apply for a gator hunting permit in Florida?

The only requirements to apply are that the applicant must be at least 18 years old by the beginning of alligator hunting season on August 15 and have a valid credit or debit card.

How many alligator tags do you get in Florida?

Each approved applicant will only get two tags each alligator hunting season, permitting each applicant to only harvest two alligators.

Can you shoot alligators in your yard in Florida?

It is illegal to kill, injure or possess an alligator without a permit in the state of Florida.’Never in my wildest dreams’: Watch barefoot Florida man wrangle alligator on I-95

When, where can you shoot alligators in Florida?

Each alligator hunt applicant who is accepted will receive an alligator trapping license, an area-specific harvest permit, and two tags, authorizing the holder to hunt and kill only two alligators. 

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The harvest areas and hunt dates are specific for each permit, and the permit specifies the boundaries or limitations of the harvest area. The first four weeks of the season are divided into four quota weeks, and each permit is assigned one of those weeks.

Alligator hunters can now hunt anytime during the day or night that they wish, 24 hours a day, in most of the designated hunting areas. In 2022, the FWC made the switch to allow for day hunting.

5 ways to avoid getting attacked or killed by a Florida alligator‘She’s lucky she didn’t lose her life’: Neighbor describes North Fort Myers gator attackAlligator mating season: Can I shoot a gator in my yard? Florida wildlife laws to knowCollier County man bitten by 11-foot alligator while walking dogs, FWC, sheriff’s office say‘There’s an alligator at my front door!’ Video shows 8-foot gator in Venice woman’s kitchenFlorida gators: A photo historyBarefoot wrangler helps police remove alligator from highway

FWC alligator harvesting methods

Here are the legal methods of harvesting alligators in the state of Florida as listed by the FWC:

• Fishing rods using a weighted treble hook
• Fishing rods using artificial lures
• Baited wooden pegs (must be less than two inches long) using a fishing rod or hand-held line
• Hand-line snatch hooks
• Hand-held catch poles or similar devices
• Bang sticks (the only firearm you’re allowed to use for alligator hunting)
• Bows
• Crossbows
• Pre-charged pneumatic airbows
• Gigs
• Harpoons
• Spears
• Spearguns

WUFT | By News Service of Florida

Published May 19, 2025 at 11:56 AM EDT

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State wildlife officials next week will hear a proposal to create an annual “limited-entry” black bear hunt, with a December hunting period the first in more than a decade.

A summary of the proposal was posted online Wednesday in advance of a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission meeting next week at the College of Central Florida in Ocala.

“Managing (bear) population growth is important to balance species numbers with suitable habitat and maintain a healthy population,” according to the summary by Hunting and Game Management Director Morgan Richardson.

The proposal would allow the first hunt since October 2015 to run from the first Saturday in December through the last Sunday in December, with future hunts held each year between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31. In 2015, 304 bears were killed in two days after permits were distributed to anyone who paid.

The new proposal includes issuing permits through a random draw. The number of permits would be based on factors such as female bear survival and mortality data that would include prior year “hunting success rates.”

Hunting would be allowed within what are known as “bear management units” that have at least 200 bears.

Bear hunting has long been a controversial issue in Florida.

Supporters say, in part, a hunt could help better manage bear populations as the animals interact with humans. They also point to a voter-approved ballot measure in November that enshrined hunting and fishing rights in the state Constitution.

Opponents have argued that hunting doesn’t reduce human-bear interactions and say the state should use non-lethal options to address bear populations.

They say unsecured trash continues to be a lure for bears on residential and commercial properties.

The commission on Friday confirmed an 89-year old Collier County man was the first recorded fatal victim of a bear attack in Florida. The state has recorded 42 incidents since the 1970s of wild bears making physical contact with people.

https://www.wuft.org/environment/2025-05-19/bear-hunting-florida-what-you-need-know-proposal

State wildlife commissioners will consider new rules at their May quarterly meeting, with a final vote expected in August.

James Call

USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida

https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/local/state/2025/05/19/bear-hunt-returns-florida-faces-uproar-over-new-rules/83674529007/

• Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is considering a proposal to reinstate an annual bear hunt.
• Opponents argue the proposal relies on outdated data and contradicts the FWC’s bear management plan.
• Public hearings and a final vote on the proposal are scheduled for May and August, respectively.

Florida is on the cusp of having an annual and regulated bear hunt that environmentalists and wildlife advocates likened to “barbarism” and say is informed by “outdated data.”   

At a December Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) meeting after receiving an update on the commission’s bear management plan, board chair Rodney Barreto told staff to develop a bear hunting option for commissioners to consider.  

Five months later, the option is ready for a public hearing. And it comes not long after the first fatal Florida bear attack ever recorded.

A ‘conservative’ plan

The FWC said it was developed with input from four virtual public meetings. Once it was published, a public comment period for the proposal was open for three days – May 14-16.  

The 31 pages of rules include a 23-day bear season this December and, starting in 2026, annual bear hunting between the first of October and the end of December. 

Commissioners will consider the rules at their May 21-22 quarterly meeting in Ocala, with a final vote expected in August. 

Morgan Richardson, the FWC’s director of hunting and game management said the rules create “a conservative, well-regulated hunt” to manage the bear population. 

But opponents like James C. Scott of Speak Up for Wildlife said they “are riddled with contradictions and sloppy math.” 

Scott has more than a half-dozen objections to the proposal including the FWC reliance on data that is at least a decade old to decide whether the bear population is healthy enough to sustain a hunt. 

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“It is outdated data. This proposal was advanced and inspired by the appointees on the commission, not the scientists, not the agency staff,” Scott said. 

The FWC’s Bear Management Coordinator Mike Orlando said the agency is relying on figures from 2015, which he characterizes as “conservative.” “We don’t detect any decreasing (numbers statewide),” Orlando told the Naples Daily News. 

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The Florida black bear, a distinct subspecies of the American black bear, was listed as a threatened species as recently as 2012; the population had dwindled to about 500 in the mid-1970s and has rebounded to an estimated 4,000 today. 

Florida ended an annual bear hunt in 1994. 

A week-long hunt was attempted in 2015 but was closed after two days when hunters had killed 300 of the 320 bears allotted for harvest.  

$100 permit for three-week season

The proposal that will be considered in Ocala divides the state into seven “Bear Management Units” and declares any area with more than 200 bears a “Bear Harvest Zone” – there is no cap on how many bears can be taken from one BMU. 

Hunting permits would be issued through a random drawing and cost $100 for a Florida resident and $300 for anyone else; 187 permits would be issued this year. 

14-Year Old Loses Life In Hunting Accident

Hunters wonder ‘Am I going to get shot?’ as US military takes over the border

By Reuters

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/full-ban-brazil-poultry-not-expected-after-bird-flu-outbreak-minister-says-2025-05-16/

May 16, 202510:49 AM PDTUpdated 2 days ago

BRASILIA, May 16 (Reuters) – Brazil’s Agriculture Minister Carlos Favaro told Reuters on Friday that he does not expect trade partners to fully ban Brazilian poultry imports given the importance of the country as a global supplier.

Speaking about the country’s first case of bird flu on a commercial farm, he said the ongoing outbreak doesn’t affect Brazil’s plans to increase its footprint in China, which is the biggest buyer of Brazil’s chicken and other agricultural commodities.

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Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu; Editing by Ana Mano and Gabriel Araujo

$10K fine issued after northern Ont. man breaks bear hunting laws

$10K fine issued after northern Ont. man breaks bear hunting laws