Tag Archives: black bears

Weekly round up: Bears, Benghazi, HSUS, Anthrax, the FBI and the lost dogs of south carolina.

It’s been a busy week

The Bear Hunt

I really hope the FWC who opened up this hunt on bears all over the state that were not bothering anyone saying they were saving our lives from nuisance  bears that eat people garbage are satisfied with what happened yesterday. We have no idea what will happen but we do know what happened yesterday.

From a friend on Facebook: So a friend of mine with the county (Marion) Sheriffs called me today and asked me if I was going out to protest the hunt and I said I was planning on hiking this weekend. He wanted to let me know that the local sheriffs deputies were all given an FBI bulletin due to the “High Threat of violence.” Apparently hunters have threatened to open fire on anyone they see trying to disrupt their hunt.

nice hunters.

Many reports of lactating mothers. One cub under 100 lbs.

My heartfelt grateful thanks to the volunteers from speak up wekevia who monitored the hunt and documented with video and photos.

To everyone who was just awoken to the travesty’s that go on in Florida. You may be outraged but I can guarantee that NO ONE is Tallahassee cares. Rick Scott has an agenda. He is doing what he set out to do. He cannot be impeached and he has no remorse about this hunt.

You can crab all you want but if any of these commissioners give you anything you want they will be replaced.

What can we do?

We can make sure the news is reporting correctly. I saw a report yesterday from CBS News. CBS this guy misreported the whole thing. I would ask for my money back. We can let our legislators know how we feel and we can let the people running know (the ones that don’t want to piss off the hunters) that unless we all talk and come up with a plan there will no land to hunt on.

here

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/floridas-first-bear-hunt-in-two-decades/

I went through all the permits and only found one person from Martin County who bought one. I was hoping for none. This speaks volumes because I really did think there would be a bunch of people going.

Here is the list of all the permits

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6HSYXJo5WOXT19DLWE4Q21NODQ/view?pli=1

Unfortunately, while we’re busy fighting with each other you gotta know there’s bad stuff going on. Yesterday was a bad for Florida and a bad bad day for the bears and unless we talk to each other it will never get fixed.

Hunters there will be no hunting because there will be no land to hunt on so I suggest you start thinking about this.

News people: We are not animal activists. We are citizens of our state.

HSUS don’t use this as an opportunity to make money to pay your staff. All money should be going towards the lawsuit.

Here is the main facebook page. Please do not give any money to HSUS. It doesn’t help us.

https://www.facebook.com/SaveFLBears?fref=ts

Lost Dogs of South Carolina

Speaking of HSUS.

Last week I wrote this about the dogs from South Carolina and a local shelter claiming they were from the storm which I knew could not be true.

https://cyndi-lenz.com/2015/10/12/lost-dogs-of-south-carolina-here-we-go-again/

This week I was sent this message.

“Almost three weeks post flood, and almost two weeks post the second coming of rain which reflooded areas of SC already devastated. We are officially in recovery. Roads and bridges are being repaired/restored, but getting around in Columbia still presents a challenge… Don’t believe the HSUS propaganda about their help in moving flood displaced pets. The counties they’re patting their backs about were not FEMA designated disaster counties, and the pets they are selling to shelters further north are not flood victims. All of our emergency shelters accepted pets. Displaced pets are being reunited daily with their families thanks to the efforts of rescue groups like Chasing Tails Pet Patrol…”
Here is a good article about what they are doing in South Carolina.
http://protecttheharvest.com/be-wary-of-hsus-fundraising-in-south-carolina/?utm_source=General+Interest&utm_campaign=f5ab7ea875-Newsletter_Sept_19&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_eb3d6ff5d4-f5ab7ea875-186705129

“You may know HSUS from its work in exploiting thousands of donors in order to use their money for legislative, salary, and fundraising purposes instead of directly helping animals in shelters. That exploitation extends to disaster relief.

HSUS likes to market itself as the frontline for animal relief in times of need, and as you’ll notice on its website, there are plenty of emotional appeals for you to help them in that effort by donating anywhere from 35 to 1,000 dollars, or more if you’re so inclined.

We certainly don’t want to get in the way of any group that wants to help displaced animals, if their intentions are truly compassionate and not self-serving. That doesn’t seem to be case with HSUS, however.

Their spotty track record when it comes to disaster relief situations is appalling. Look no further than New Orleans, where HSUS’s “relief” in the wake of Hurricane Katrina’s destruction was little more than fundraising abuse. It’s reported that the animal rights organization raised upwards of 34.6 million dollars to help animals there.

That’s a spectacular amount of money which could be used to assist a region in dire need. Unfortunately, only 25-52% (depending on if your source is HSUS’s tax records or HSUS’s own reporting) of those funds were dispersed to Louisiana groups.”

______

JUST IN: Hours after #BenghaziHearing debacle, Boehner names new House Select Cmte to investigate #PlannedParenthood

beghazi

How much money will be wasted on fake videos?  These people claim to be fiscally conservatives they have no problem spending millions of dollars on witch hunts? Riddle me that! I could sit here and write a blog on how many people got killed under Regan but it would make difference to the Hillary Haters. They are so stuck in their hate circuits there is no getting out.

Another Blog I wrote about the Anthrax attack in Boca Raton.

https://cyndi-lenz.com/2015/10/22/tbt-anthrax-in-boca-raton-florida/

I have for years walked around with the knowledge that someone called and asked us to research Anthrax 2 weeks before the attack and I never knew why. The answer came from a friend of mine and it chilled me to my core.

So because the world is amazing a friend of mine shared this story with me. I have walked around with a lot things from when this happened and one the questions was why did we get the call to do research on this. It came from someone at AMI and I never wanted to get that person in trouble. I had some theories but I never ever ever expected this.

From my friend Victoria:

Victoria Romero Huggins It was a very scary time for me as a mother. Our daughter, Summer, sat at the desk next to Bob’s. Summer was Bob’s photo-journalist assistant. Yes, there were at least 3 others who had spores within their noses. I got the phone call from Summer when Bob died. They knew what it was, they just kept it under wraps and out of the public. Her phone call to me was: “Mom, I’m to young to die! I had Sammy in here on Saturday to do some work. Bob got the Anthrax on Friday!” Yes, there were people in the building on MONDAY swabbing everything. When they found spores on the keyboards and hand railings within the building – they sent everyone home. They were not allowed to take anything but themselves out of the building. That very day, they began swabbing the noses of the employees – some were put on cipro immediately. Summer was one of those. I sat with her every day for the FBI updates. I went through the most trying time – she had an allergic reaction to Cipro. A very bad reaction. Then, the FBI decided that since Bob and Summer lived within the same neighborhood, an approach to the Lantana Municipal Airport, they began swabbing their homes and yards. Nothing was found at their homes. We were told at least a month before the press got hold of it, that the spores were throughout the building, compliments of the A/C. It seems so strange that the AMI people were working and having daily briefings at the Sun Sentinel building in Delray, yet they were continually told “Share nothing with the press!” Everyday after briefings, the parking lot was full of TV crews…… I will say this, AMI paid their employees in cash each week, even though most of them were not working…. It was a very sad time for our family. (Now that AMI has moved out of Boca, Summer is without a job since September. She worked for AMI since she was 17 – and she is 39 now.)

Let it be known that David Pecker, the owner of AMI at that time, went above and beyond for his employees. Everything, I mean everything was left behind by the employees. Coffee mugs, purses, their identification, personal pictures and things on their desks. When Guiliani had the building decontaminated, they asked if any of the AMI employees wanted anything of a personal nature back. All stated NO. There were thousands of dollars of photos in the photo-journalists storage which could not be used.”

So there you have it. We had anthrax in Boca way before we even knew it was there and it totally under wraps. So I have to worry about what else was under raps.

We’ll never know who was responsible and I think if Bob had not died we would have know about this at all.

A very disturbing week on my blog, in my world. People who are suppose to be doing the right thing are not.

I can only hope next week will be better.

Must watch Video on Bear Hunt. Then funny bear video.

IMG_1489

The national news (Newsweek) are painting us as ok with this bear hunt.

http://www.newsweek.com/florida-totally-cool-black-bear-hunting-season-347367

Asked whether bears are the biggest threat to bears, Wraithmell responds: “I don’t believe that’s supported by science right now…. In addition to habitat loss, major causes of mortality for bears in Florida are roadkill and euthanasia for nuisance bears.”

This is the video from the hearing in Ft Lauderdale.

http://thefloridachannel.org/videos/9215-florida-fish-wildlife-conservation-commission-part-4/

Here are some comments I jotted down as I listened.

“Letters after Letters and we are being ignored.” (Sound familiar?)
Vivian Handy : 28 biologists redefinition was not due to the population number but when it was delisted as threatened. This will effect the success of dening. The hunt will introduce noise and fears, pregnant mothers could be short and the cubs could be shot.
People talk about Florida’s reputation. (Just kick us in the head.)

http://www.newsweek.com/florida-totally-cool-black-bear-hunting-season-347367

Persons with masters wetlands biologists says this  ignorance greed trumping science

the humane society of the united states was there.

Chuck O’Neal: Your hunt is based on cherry picked data

We don’t even know how many bears we have!

You are appointed and not elected and you don’t have to listen to the people
we’ll see you court. We’ll see you in the media

Jon Ullman the sierra club: ” Its about development. ”

Your not going to get rid of the nuisance problem by opening up the hunt

If your going to kill something you should eat not stuff it.

I can’t believe these are the people making decisions for our animals.

There’s no explanation. This is rigged.

Ronald Bergeron, one of the commissioners,  said he can’t vote for any quota is against the hunt because he doesn’t see the science. He believes that bears are an icon of Florida. He think the train has moved very rapidly.
(at about 2:00) He lays out the scenario about when hunting is appropriate.

2:08 water in the WMAS  blamed sfwmd
position paper on water level (Have to go look for that)

Just so people know we have plenty of hunting in Florida but here on the FWC has proudly put a hunter with a dead bear on their website.

http://myfwc.com/hunting/

We NEED people to go hunting the Everglades for pythons and we need divers to go after Lionfish. We have alligator hunting, hog hunting, deer hunting, dove hunting, duck/waterfoul hunting, Raccoon, opossum, skunk, nutria, beaver, coyote, bobcat, and river otter, Quail, turkey and wild hogs.

Dove hunting really?

apparently so. If you google dove recipes there are plenty. Like this one.

Continue reading →

Stop the bear hunt, save the panthers. manatee’s you’re next. SOS SOS Please help us! save our Florida!

It’s never too early to start thinking about who we  need for Governor and we need to start doing this right now. We simply will not survive any of Rick Scott’s cronies and I’m sure he’s got his own people up his nasty evil sleeves to pass on this murderous deregulation.

I’ve been told the end game is total deregulation so polluters can pollute and builders can build where ever they want. I see it going on here even in Martin County where this guy wants to build these really ugly places where you have your business downstairs and you live upstairs. The location is right near our beautiful greenway and Haney Creek.

This is not the Martin County I moved to. The one I moved too had a clean lagoon, lots and lots and lots of green. The old road near my house was upgraded to a pretty road with little circles just ripe for a developer to build what ever he wants and the sewage lines are not moved up near the lagoon where we could all hook up but close enough for developers to develop.

I read on twitter last week that the most protected animal in Florida was the developer.

But  right now I want to talk about black bears.

We used to have black bears here on Hutchinson Island. My friend, fellow wordpress blogger and future Martin County Commissioner wrote a blog about it.

http://jacquithurlowlippisch.com/2014/02/25/black-bears-of-hutchinson-island-our-wild-past/

“According  to historian Alice Luckhart, the black bear population on Hutchinson Island was completely wiped out by about 1930.  (http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2012/feb/03/historical-vignettes-when-bears-roamed-hutchinson-/)

Before modern man came and planted bean fields and produced honey, the bears ate turtle eggs, palmetto berries and the riches of the Indian River Lagoon and St Lucie River. But they they became a problem, so we “wiped them out.”

We wiped them out.

We must stop wiping things out.

must.

We must live in the sunshine. We live in the sunshine state but do not have sunshine. Only evil darkness that lurks like the boogeymen under our beds. Koch roaches.

I spent the last few years documenting our water issues. We didn’t get what we needed and there is lots to do but I really believe in my heart that we were meant to go through what we did together to make us better, smarter, well educated advocates who have a really clear vision of what the big picture is. We literally saw people following the orders of rick scott. It’s our job to educate others. Asking for things will not work. The will of the people does not work. We are seeing this with amendment 1.  The people of Florida voted for amendment one and the legislators stole it.

We need a Governor who will remember that he represents us and not his evil cronies.

You watch this trailer and then you tell me if you want to go out and kill a bear. For what? Bear doesn’t taste good. No one wears fur.

Who is the enemy of the bear? Humans.

This week there was a big meeting in Fort Lauderdale. This is what happened.

http://www.wptv.com/news/state/harvest-numbers-set-for-revived-florida-bear-hunt

“The bear hunt, approved by the commission in June and set to start Oct. 24, will last from two to seven days. While the hunt is supposed to end in each region once the preset quotas are reached, hunters are guaranteed a minimum of two days of pursuing bears.

  • The state has sold 1,948 bear hunting permits SO FAR.

    I’m go to throw something else out here. The purpose of government is to protect us. I never really thought about this until I went for training to be a weather spotter. The mission of our weather service is not to entertain us or drive us crazy when storm are approaching.  Life and Limb. That’s it!

    Florida fish and wildlife have the nerve to have this on their website.

    https://license.myfwc.com/Customer/InternetCustomerLookup

    “Whether fishing or hunting, we hope you enjoy your time and we appreciate your thoughtful participation in the preservation and conservation of the natural resources in the great State of Florida. Thank you.”

    Hypocrites.

    http://www.clickorlando.com/news/fwc-officials-to-set-bear-hunt-limit/35058086

    FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. –

    “Despite throngs of protesters, bear advocates were dealt a crushing defeat Wednesday when the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission approved the killing of 320 bears next month during the state’s first bear hunting season in more than 20 years.

    “When this many people are speaking out and advocating for the bears, how would it have hurt them to put it off for a year and get better science behind it?” Terri Miller asked.

    The decision by FWC comes after a series of bear attacks on people and pets.”

    Except those bears are not the one’s getting killed. The hunters are going into the forest and chasing the bears out of their habitat into the populated areas.

    Only in Florida.

    Of course there is no science because the government of Florida doesn’t believe in science. They only believe in cronies.

    Here is the video from Ft Lauderdale yesterday.

    http://thefloridachannel.org/videos/9215-florida-fish-wildlife-conservation-commission-part-4/

    We need your help.

    What can you do?

    Go here and stay connected with whats going on.

    https://www.facebook.com/stopbearhunt?fref=nf

    This is an online bear hunt protest on Facebook. It will take place every Friday and you can send a message to the people who are in charge. Tell them you won’t come to Florida if this hunt goes through.

    https://www.facebook.com/events/1064535313556616/

    and you can sign this petition.

    http://www.care2.com/causes/how-you-can-help-stop-the-upcoming-florida-black-bear-hunt.html

    Thank you so much everyone! It’s very important that people from outside Florida speak out and condemn this.The majority of the people of Florida do not want this bear hunt. We need to take our Florida back.

Help us save our Black Bears in Florida.

Help us save our Black Bears in Florida.

by Cyndi Lenz

I’ve written a few blogs in the past about our Black Bear situation but it’s really has come to critical mass and we must do something to stop the madness that is going on in Florida right now. We have been taken over by a bunch of loonies with a plan of their own.  Not just for us but for our treasures panthers, manatees and black bears.

At one time the Black Bear was endangered. Now we have a fabulous healthy population. What do they do? They kill them.

Today this was posted on Floridians United to Save our Bears.

“(From a post by Fred Bohler) Cubs will stay with their mother for 18-24 months. When i was with FWC, the rule was , cubs of a deceased female that were under 35 pounds were euthanized. Cubs 35 -50 pounds were left on their own and had about a 10-20% chance of survival respectively. Obviously without proper foraging/ hunting skills , most cubs are doomed. Male bears will readily hunt them down and kill them. I was involved with one of the few rehabilitation efforts for a cub to be released back into the wild by FWC. Even that had its problems, once again, man could not be trusted not to imprint the cub. The release was marginally successful.”

This week we all saw this fabulous video on the news. “Der’s bears in da pool. They took my floaties.”

How can we as humans watch this video and then allow hunters to hunt mothers and then euthanize the cubs. Most of Floridians are against hunting the bears and I’m sure no life loving person could be ok with killing a mother and euthanizing their cubs. If they are then they are hypocrites. 61% percent of Floridians are against this.

.http://www.dailykumquat.com/florida-bear-hunt-fwc-habitat-loss-overpopulation-development/

“A state-wide poll commissioned by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) earlier this year showed that 61% of Floridians were against bear hunting, with overwhelming majorities favoring educational outreach programs and the widespread use of bear-proof garbage cans. When the HSUS delivered a petition to Governor Rick Scott with 90,000 names calling upon him to block the hunt, Scott deferred to the Republican-packed FWC, whose chairman, Richard Corbett, dismissed the concerns of these Florida citizens in the following way:

This is Richard Corbett

http://myfwc.com/about/commission/commissioners/corbett/

Richard Corbett is associated with the Pacific Legal Foundation which I have written about before.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/florida/fl-record-manatee-count-20150316-story.html

“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service expects to announce a decision later this year on a petition from the Pacific Legal Foundation to reclassify the manatee from endangered to threatened. The petition was submitted on behalf of Save Crystal River, a group of property owners concerned about boating restrictions in King’s Bay in Citrus County.

“Those people don’t know what they’re talking about. Most of those people have never been in the woods. They think we’re talking about teddy bears. “Oh Lord, don’t hurt my little teddy bear!’ Well these bears are dangerous…. Do you want blood on your hands? We don’t. We have taken a step.”

A step towards murdering a mother and leaving her babies to die.

Don’t be a hypocrite.

This is what we can do to help.

There are two  paid and four volunteer attorneys working on the lawsuit against the FWC to stop the hunt. You can help pay the legal expenses by donating to the legal fund. All donations, large or small, are greatly appreciated.

Here is the link to the gofundme account to pay for this.

http://www.gofundme.com/6y6k5vm8

If we can all give ten bucks that’s a lot of bucks that will help for this lawsuit.

2) If you are unable to donate monetarily, you can donate some time by helping to spread the word via Facebook, Twitter, email and letters to the editor. You can also help the cause receive a $10,000 award from Cox Conserves by voting for Chuck O’Neal here. One click one vote 10,000 bucks towards the cause.

http://coxconservesheroes.com/orlando/finalists.aspx

Here is Chuck’s story in the Orlando Sentinel:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/…/os-oneal-battles-florida-b…

O’Neal, an environmental activist and a real-estate investor in Longwood, filed a lawsuit against the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to stop the state agency from allowing people to hunt bears. He was joined in his suit by Speak Up Wekiva, a nonprofit group based in Lake Mary.

“Filing this lawsuit is something that fulfills this commitment,” O’Neal said.

3) As a contingency plan, if all other means to stop the hunt fail, there are going to be a series of statewide protests and an immeasurable amount of negative publicity for FWC and the state officials who are responsible. You can find one in your area here:

https://www.facebook.com/stopbearhunt/events?key=events

4) And possibly the most important. PLEASE REGISTER TO VOTE and help insure that all your friends vote in EVERY election. You can join a great organization with a long history of education, voter registration and advocacy here:

http://thefloridavoter.org/contact-us/join/

10987641_815483295238743_5487854480843043783_o

Florida has gone to the looney bin and we have got to turn it around.

http://www.dailykumquat.com/florida-bear-hunt-fwc-habitat-loss-overpopulation-development/

On October 10th, 2015, the small Central Florida town of Umatilla, on the southern edge of the Ocala National Forest, is scheduled to hold its annual Black Bear Festival. The event, organized by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), has traditionally been aimed at educating young and old alike about the area’s wildlife, featuring presentations and guided eco-tours of the nearby forest. For a town that used to label itself “The Gateway to the Forest,” the event was a wholesome family activity and entirely fitting. This year’s event promises to be extra-special, for it will mark the two-week countdown to the resumption of bear hunting after a twenty-one-year hiatus, affording Florida’s families a wonderful new way to interact with their natural environment. It remains to be seen whether the organizers will set up bear-shaped targets for youngsters to aim at in Cadwell Park, or will hide the reality of the coming bloodbath behind their fraudulent and authoritarian claim of managerial responsibility
Ok so to wrap this up grew our black bear population out of endangered to a large population. We now after many years have bear hunting. Hunters can kill the mothers and that means a dismal outcome for the cubs. This whole thing is orchestrated from the darkness who have found Florida a great place to destroy for their own greedy reasons.

Here is an article about Ted Nugent buying his permit to kill bears in Florida.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/rocker-ted-nugent-snaps-up-florida-bear-hunting-permit/2015/08/06/0e86f5d8-3c5b-11e5-a312-1a6452ac77d2_story.html

If that doesn’t upset you nothing will.

There will a meeting in Ft Lauderdale regarding this issue on September 2, 2015

http://myfwc.com/about/commission/commission-meetings/2015/september/02/agenda/

8:30am each day
Dates: September 2 – 3, 2015
Place: Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina
1881 SE 17th Street
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33316
(954) 463-4000
www.fortlauderdalemarinahotel.com

 

So three things you can do right now:

Vote for Chuck O’Neal

Support the lawsuit go fund me bear lawsuit

and go to the Florida Save Black Bears Facebook Page for more news.

Trust me. I am not a bear.

@voteforjennifer

@SteveCrisafulli

@Piper

education not incarceration

#educationnotincarceration

So one day when my Dad was alive he decided that he was taking my mom and moving from Boca Raton to Boulder, Colorado.

Boulder

Boulder

One of them was sick and my sister and her family were out of town and I was home with one of my favorite dogs, Blue.

blue

blue

This was a great trip. I wrote a kick ass article about the issues with dogs in the open spaces for Boca Dog Magazine while I dealt with my aging parents medical issues.
One morning I was sleeping and Blue came in and would not leave me alone. This is one of best dogs I have ever known. You could take  her anywhere (except to  the vet and that’s another story) off leash. I’m having this crazy dream and Blue is waking me up and i’m digging the dream and I’m sleeping and she just won’t stop. I get up and she throws herself up against the window and down below I see this huge black bear feasting on the garbage.
I apologize to Blue and I just stand there and watch because I have no earthly idea of what to do.
I had seen lots of animals here. In the foothills of Boulder there are  deer, mountain lions,  but I had never seen a bear this close before. So i decided it (he she?)would eventually go away when it (he/she) was full.

Fast forward to a few years ago I was sitting at a table with my friend Maryanne and she’s pitching this film about “The Cape Cod Bear.” I love this idea. I knew about the Boulder bear and other bear stories and I thought it was great.

Fast forward again to last year I went up to Gainesville with Maryanne  to the Cinema Verde Environmental Film Festival and Maryanne had invited a guest to come to the screening  from Florida Wildlife and the one thing I learned from that day is “Don’t feed the bears.” That was the big sticking point. We, humans, are the worse enemy of the bears. Us.

One other thing I learned is that male bears leave their homes in search of mates far away because genetically that is the right thing to do. At this point the black bears in Florida are smarter than our legislators. They at have sense to follow their good intuition and do the right thing.

Sorry I digress.

So here is the film and maybe you all could watch it and learn something.  It’s play all over including

Official Selection 50th Annual Conference of the Animal Behavior Society at UC Boulder, CO

http://www.mgproductions.biz/rewilding-america-lessons-learned-cape-cod-bear

Rewilding America: Lessons Learned from the Cape Cod Bear

In May 2012, a black bear altered the course of Massachusetts wildlife history, completing a journey from the mainland to the tip of Cape Cod. The first bear sighting in centuries captured the imagination, attention and hearts of everyone from locals to tourists, law enforcement to TV crews and Tweeters all hoping to catch a glimpse or even capture the elusive bear himself. The film chronicles this bear’s travels while digging into the dilemma of human co-existence with an increasingly emboldened wildlife population across North America. Blending humor and hard hitting facts, the doc includes a range of perspectives from a wildlife biologist, zoo curator, veterinarian, cub rescuer, park rangers, hunter, Cape Cod nature writer and a Provincetown entrepreneur.

The film examines conservation with a focus on the conditions that lead individuals to participate in environmentally sustainable behaviors, thus assuring the continuity and health of wildlife and our shared landscapes.

Written, Produced and Directed by Maryanne Galvin

Edited by Maryanne Galvin & H. Adam Lenz

So fast forward to now.
Our Florida legislators are considering opening up hunting because we humans can’t stop feeding them.

and they are putting this in place.
http://miami.cbslocal.com/2015/04/27/lawmakers-look-to-curb-bear-gator-feeding
TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) – As the state tries to reduce dangerous interactions between bears and humans, lawmakers have given final approval to a bill that would change the penalties for feeding wildlife.
The Senate on Friday unanimously approved the bill (HB 7021), which passed the House earlier and now goes to Gov. Rick Scott.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Jennifer Sullivan, R-Mount Dora, and Rep. Jay Trumbull, R-Panama City, comes as the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission prepares to give formal approval to a black bear hunt this fall — the first such hunt in two decades.
The hunt stems from interactions between bears and humans in some parts of the state, with wildlife officials saying a major cause of the problem is residents leaving out garbage that attracts bears.
The bill, in part, would increase penalties for people charged a fourth time with feeding bears and alligators not in captivity. The charge would be a third-degree felony.
Currently, a fourth offense of illegally feeding wildlife within a 10-year period is a first-degree misdemeanor.

So what is a third degree felony?
http://www.ericmathenylaw.com/Criminal-Defense-Blog/2010/December/3rd-Degree-Felonies.aspx
A third degree felony is the least serious of all the felonies.

3rd Degree Felonies
Posted on Dec 25, 2010 7:55am PST
3rd degree felonies are some of the most common felony offenses committed in Florida.

Everybody charged with a felony is facing a maximum sentence of state prison.

3rd degree felonies are punishable by a maximum of 5 years in prison.  If you are a Habitual Offender (HO), you face 10 years for most 3rd degree felonies.

The penalties for 3rd degree felonies can range from PTI (Pretrial Intervention), all the way up to prison.

For the most part, 3rd degree felonies are non-violent property crimes and drug possession-level offenses.

Some examples of 3rd degree felonies are:

Possession of cocaine
Possession of oxycodone
Possession of marijuana (more than 20 grams)
Grand theft 3rd
Burglary of an unoccupied conveyance
Burglary of an unoccupied structure
Driving as a Habitual Traffic Offender (HTO)
Aggravated assault
Felony battery
Battery on a law enforcement officer
Resisting an officer with violence
Uttering a forged instrument
3rd or subsequent DUI
3rd degree felonies are punishable by a maximum of 5 years in prison.  If you are a Habitual Offender (HO), you face 10 years for most 3rd degree felonies.

The penalties for 3rd degree felonies can range from PTI (Pretrial Intervention), all the way up to prison.

dead bear

dead bear

So, if my adventure with the bear was today or at least when this law is past – orange would be my new black. As bad as possessing cocaine or battery on a law enforcement officer or forgery.

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How in the world did we get here?

Instead of killing bears and going to jail why not educate people on how to deal with bears. This is not grizzly man.

http://www.skinnymoose.com/bbb/2007/06/23/expert-advice-on-dealing-with-black-bears

and please stop feeding them.

Education not incarceration.

bear