The bear hunt!
Although, as the map shows, it's only certain parts of southern Florida (and certain parts of the rest of the state), that are really affected.
It's not come about without some controversy, as the reasons for the hunt have been varied but seem to come down to a humane "culling of the herd" versus an overreaction to a few attacks in areas where humans are encroaching on bear territory without taking into account basic bear-proofing strategies like using bear-resistant trash cans.
As for me, and to no surprise to anyone who knows me, I believe the answer to the issue exists somewhere in the middle as a compromise. I don't begrudge a hunter his or her pastime (so long as the whole deal is regulated, and the person in the hunt is aligned closer to the midpoint of the Nugent scale of hunt-fanaticism) ... but I also talk to the animals way too much to participate myself. (I've said it before ... one of my biggest fears living in these apocalypse-adjacent times is that I wouldn't be able to feed myself once the end times begin, and I'd end up a vegetarian right quick). In the end, I also want to know that we've done everything we could BEFORE we got to the bear-slaughtering solution.
According to the latest numbers (as of the typing of this post), 207 of the allotted 320 bear-icides had happened, with certain areas being closed for hunting today (Sunday) with quotas having already been met (or exceeded). For perspective, the black bear population has gone from (an estimated) 11,000 back before humans arrived ... to less than 300 back in the mid-seventies, (when they were considered a threatened species ... although hunting them wasn't stopped until 1994) ... to many more when they were removed from that list in 2012 ... to a supposed 3000 at the latest count (hence the 10% that were deemed "fair game" in this week's hunt).
Final thought ... I wonder if the bears ever get together and consider that they should eat more people ... maybe just a reasonable 10% or so of the excess population. And, let me be the first to say, that if these bear-meetings do happen, I can help prepare the list for the 10% cull of the extra humans. Just sayin'.
HEY PEOPLE ... THE BEARS WERE HERE FIRST (SO WHY DON'T *YOU* ADAPT):
http://myfwc.com/conservation/you-conserve/wildlife/black-bears/
THE NAT GEO TAKE ON THE BEAR HUNT (& SOURCE OF MY BEAR COUNT STATS):
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/10/151023-black-bear-hunt-florida-animals-conservation/
NUMBERS AND SUCH REGARDING THE HUNT (AS OF THIS WEEKEND):
http://www.baynews9.com/content/news/baynews9/news/article.html/content/news/articles/cfn/2015/10/24/florida_black_bear_h.html
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