Popularized by Teddy Roosevelt’s infamous Louisiana hunting expedition in 1902, the Louisiana black bear became a national symbol, inspiring the creation of the iconic teddy bear toy. While many of us would side with Roosevelt’s decision not to shoot a bear tied to a tree, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the animals should not be hunted at all.
The idea of bear hunting in the Bayou State has been a contentious one for the past few decades. With the last hunt taking place in 1988, the Louisiana black bear has been placed in the crosshairs of conservation, politics and animal welfare.
Generally speaking, the Louisiana black bear has been taken care of since it was nearly wiped out during the 60s and 70s. Since 1988, the bear has been afforded federal protection under the Endangered Species Act allowing both state and federal wildlife managers the opportunity to get population numbers back to where they need to be.
In 2016, all federal protections were lifted, a true conservation success story. In some cases, the Endangered Species Act has been utilized to offer lifelong protections for certain species, but in Louisiana it was used as designed – to offer enough protection to allow for a comeback.
And comeback they did.
Recent counts by wildlife officials in Louisiana show 1,212 bears in just the Mississippi Delta and the Atchafalaya Basin alone. Many believe that current estimate to account for roughly 80-90% of total populations state-wide.
At this level, many believe the population to be strong enough to support a hunt in 2024. With dense populations, particularly in the northeastern portion of the state, officials are proposing a December-only hunt that would allow for the taking of just 10 bears across the entire state.
On the surface, there is seemingly nothing egregious about the proposed hunt, but as with anything that has not taken place in 40-or-so years, the hunt has come under strong opposition. Petitions have been launched and Louisiana cat ladies remain at the ready, staunchly opposed to the possible hunt.
With many on the other side looking to live more harmoniously with bears, the argument always has been and remains to be that rather than introducing hunting, we ought to promote coexistence between humans and bears.
Despite sounding completely utopian, the idea does hold some merit and bear programs in states such as Florida have been proven to be effective. With the rollout of Florida’s BearWise program, FWC reports that some Florida communities have managed to reduce bear conflicts by up to 70%.
While this is all promising data, it’s yet another piece of the puzzle that needs to be constructed to successfully manage apex predators such as bears. Even with the success of the BearWise program in Florida, there remains a push in that state for a hunting season. State lawmakers are also busy as of late passing stand-your-ground legislation for human-bear conflicts.
Despite the fact that many are looking to add a black bear to the cOeXiSt sticker on their Prius in Louisiana, the very data they are basing their argument on is slightly flawed.
Yes, programs such as BearWise play their part in conservation efforts but they alone will not solve the problem. As human-bear conflicts continue to rise and farm crops continue to be eradicated, it might be time to utilize the feather in our cap that helped build the greatest conservation model on the planet.
Controlled hunting in densely populated regions of the state to effectively manage numbers has been, and always will be, a sure-fire method of sound and scientific wildlife management.
Let’s just not tie them to the trees.