Environmental activists thought they had one last card to play.
They filed an emergency lawsuit claiming Florida's bear hunt relied on "stale data."
And a Florida judge just cleared the way for hunters to finally do what government bureaucrats can't.
Judge Rejects "Stale Data" Claims in Final Ruling Before Hunt
Leon County Circuit Judge Angela Dempsey handed environmental activists a devastating loss Monday when she rejected Bear Warriors United's emergency request to halt Florida's first black bear hunt in a decade.
The judge ruled the Central Florida nonprofit failed to demonstrate a "substantial likelihood of success on the merits" in its lawsuit challenging the hunt scheduled to begin December 6.
Bear Warriors United claimed the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission approved the hunt using "outdated and stale population information and models."¹
But Judge Dempsey wasn't buying it.
"That 2015 hunt was found constitutional under the rational basis test, and this hunt is significantly more conservative than that hunt in 2015, both in number of bears that could be harvested, as well as the timing, when it's a little less likely for more female bears to be killed," Dempsey stated.²
https://twitter.com/GregFoxWESH/status/1993083170884141225?s=20
The FWC issued 172 hunting permits – each allowing one bear to be killed in four designated regions of Florida – compared to the unlimited permits that created chaos during the 2015 hunt.
That previous hunt was supposed to last seven days but got shut down after just two days when hunters killed 304 bears, nearly hitting the 320 bear cap.³
FWC Lawyer Calls Out Activists for "Whining"
The environmental group's attorney claimed the hunt would "result in the needless destruction of Florida black bears."⁴
Rhonda Parnell, acting deputy general counsel for the FWC, wasn't having it.
"This becomes Bear Warriors whining about what they did not get," Parnell told the court. "They didn't get what they wanted, because they didn't want a bear hunt."⁵
Judge Dempsey noted Bear Warriors United participated in the FWC's rulemaking process and attended public workshops, meaning they had every opportunity to make their case.
The commission's bear program coordinator Michael Orlando testified the hunt was designed conservatively to protect female bears.
"If all 172 bears were harvested, and they were all female, it would still not impact the population," Orlando explained.⁶
Florida's black bear population now exceeds 4,000 animals – up from just a few hundred in the 1970s.⁷
The FWC receives an average of 6,300 bear-related calls every year from Floridians dealing with bears in their neighborhoods, going through garbage, and threatening pets and property.⁸
This May, Florida saw its first fatal bear attack when an 89-year-old man and his dog were killed by a black bear in rural Collier County.⁹
Activists Bought Permits They Won't Use in Sabotage Scheme
Environmental groups didn't just file lawsuits – they tried economic sabotage too.
Bear Warriors United and other activists flooded the permit lottery with over 163,000 applications at $5 each, hoping to secure permits they'd never use.¹⁰
They claim they successfully obtained up to 40 of the 172 available permits, effectively reducing the harvest by nearly 25 percent.¹¹
One South Florida businessman who calls himself a "rescuer" even paid a cash-strapped hunter to sign an agreement not to use his permit.¹²
But hunters still got the vast majority of permits, and the three-week season will proceed as planned from December 6 through December 28 in the Apalachicola region west of Tallahassee, areas west of Jacksonville, north of Orlando, and the Big Cypress region southwest of Lake Okeechobee.¹³
The FWC emphasized that permit revenue – over $800,000 from applications alone – will fund black bear conservation efforts.¹⁴
Here's what environmental activists refuse to acknowledge: Florida is one of only six states with significant black bear populations that doesn't allow regulated hunting.¹⁵
Every other state with healthy bear numbers uses hunting as a wildlife management tool to balance population growth with available habitat.
The FWC's approach is far more conservative than the disaster of 2015, with strict permit limits, timing designed to minimize impact on female bears, and requirements for hunters to coordinate with FWC staff to access harvested bears for data collection.¹⁶
Florida's black bears were removed from the threatened species list in 2012 after their population rebounded from the brink.¹⁷
Now with over 4,000 bears and growing conflicts with humans as development encroaches on bear habitat, proper wildlife management requires tools beyond just telling homeowners to secure their garbage cans.
Judge Dempsey understood what environmental activists refuse to accept – the FWC has constitutional authority to manage Florida's fish and wildlife resources, and that includes making tough decisions about hunting when populations can sustain it.
The hunt moves forward, hunters get their opportunity, and Florida takes a science-based approach to wildlife management despite activists' best efforts to stop it.
¹ Thomas Crapps, attorney for Bear Warriors United, quoted in Tampa FP, "Judge Clears Path For Florida Bear Hunt," November 25, 2025.
² Judge Angela Dempsey, ruling quoted in WUSF, "Judge refuses to halt Florida's bear hunt," November 24, 2025.
³ CBS News, "Florida's controversial black bear hunt ends after second day," October 26, 2015.
⁴ Bear Warriors United motion quoted in FlaglerLive, "Bear Hunt Is a Go," November 26, 2025.
⁵ Rhonda Parnell quoted in Tampa FP, "Judge Clears Path For Florida Bear Hunt," November 25, 2025.
⁶ Michael Orlando quoted in NBC 6 South Florida, "Judge refuses to halt Florida bear hunt," November 24, 2025.
⁷ TIME Magazine, "Florida Approves First Black Bear Hunt in a Decade," August 13, 2025.
⁸ NRA Hunters' Leadership Forum, "It's Back! Florida Approves A Black Bear Hunt," 2025.
⁹ WUFT, "Florida considers controversial black bear hunt," May 21, 2025.
¹⁰ Tampa FP, "Judge Clears Path For Florida Bear Hunt," November 25, 2025.
¹¹ Ibid.
¹² Orlando Sentinel, "Last-ditch effort to stop Florida's bear hunt," November 24, 2025.
¹³ WUSF, "Judge refuses to halt Florida's bear hunt," November 24, 2025.
¹⁴ Independent Florida Alligator, "Local hunters, conservationists anticipate first Florida black bear hunt in a decade," October 12, 2025.
¹⁵ WUFT, "Florida gives preliminary approval to controversial black bear hunt," May 21, 2025.
¹⁶ FWC, "Florida black bear," 2025.
¹⁷ NRA Hunters' Leadership Forum, "It's Back! Florida Approves A Black Bear Hunt," 2025.
