Free Republic

The Florida 2025 black bear hunt has been a flop as an attempt to manage the bear population in Florida. It may have been successful as a trial run on how to manage a bear hunt. Only 52 bears were harvested. To keep a stable population, at least 600 bears should have been harvested, probably 1500. About 15 % of a black bear population needs to be harvested to keep a stable population. From myfwc.com: There were 52 bears harvested during the 2025 bear hunt, which is a hunter success rate very close to other states with similar hunt parameters....

The 550-pound bear living under a man’s Los Angeles home for 37 days has finally left the building — after being shot at with paintballs. Altadena homeowner Ken Johnson has been living with the massive black bear under his home since Nov. 30 when it began squatting in his crawl space. The “unbearable” roommate ruined Christmas for Johnson and had him on edge for weeks. The bear eviction finally happened Tuesday after Johnson contacted “The Bear League” — a group from Lake Tahoe that specializes in bear removal emergencies. “We heard about Ken, we felt bad for him and flew...

A California homeowner has finally removed a 550-pound bear living under his house that has been wreaking havoc for over a month. Kenneth Johnson, 63, discovered the massive male black bear had taken up residence in the crawl space of his $1.5 million Altadena home just before Thanksgiving. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) attempted to capture the beast, called Yellow 2120 by researchers, with bait and noisemakers. But their efforts were unsuccessful and Johnson even threatened to sue the department after they allegedly stopped helping with the removal. However, the homeowner finally had a stroke of luck...

Hunting of Ursus Arctos (grizzly bears/brown bears) was banned in British Columbia on December 18, 2017. At the time, opponents of the hunting ban warned there would be increasing bear/human conflicts. From British Columbia Wildlife Federation executive director Jesse Zeman: “When the hunt was closed, we predicted that over time human-grizzly conflicts would increase, but we also know that bears that learn bad behaviors teach those same behaviors to their offspring,” said Zeman. “This will keep getting worse until science-based wildlife management is reinstated.”Over the last ten years, Ursus arctos/human conflicts in British Columbia have doubled, from approximately 300-500 per...

A homeowner says living with a bear under his house has pushed him to his breaking point. In an exclusive interview with KTLA’s Jillian Smukler, he revealed plans to sue the California Department of Fish and Wildlife after being told the state will no longer help. Ken Johnson says the bear moved under his Altadena home just before Thanksgiving — and never left. “If I kept track of everything I tried, it would be Bear 14, Homeowner 0,” said Johnson, using a sports analogy. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife initially stepped in, setting a trap near the crawl...

In an article published in Molecular Biology and Evolution, Italian researchers mapped the genetics of European Marsican Brown bears (Ursus arctos). They found evidence indicating the bears had been selected by human hunting pressure to be less aggressive. From yale.edu: To investigate, Italian researchers mapped the genes of Marsican bears and compared them with the genes of brown bears in Slovakia and the U.S. Their study, published in Molecular Biology and Evolution, found clear evidence that the Marsican bears had been selected for lower aggression.The study has confirmed what naturalists, ranchers, hunters,, and wildlife managers assumed to be true. Grizzly...

Now here's a story out of Florida that bears watching. Florida's black bear hunt is underway, and troubles' a-bruin. The problem is, as it so often is in wildlife policy: A question of policy based on emotion vs. policy based on science. Ten years ago, a Florida bear hunt shocked the public when photos spread online of bloody carcasses of mother bears loaded in pick-up trucks and splayed out on concrete slabs at hunter check-in stations. The hunt, the first in 20 years, was halted in less than 48 hours after an estimated 304 bears were killed the first weekend....

On November 20, 2025, a bit before 2 p.m., a group of elementary school children was attacked by a grizzly bear, not far from their school. At least two adult men were with the children. It appears they and two others, including at least one child, were severely injured during the attack. At least one of the men is reported to have been severely injured while fighting the bear and protecting the children. Two of the victims were listed in critical condition, two others were listed as serious, and seven others were treated at the scene with less serious injuries....

The kanji 熊 (kuma), meaning “bear,” came out on top in popular voting for the kanji of the year for 2025. Powerful wild animals encroaching into human settlements were an irresistible image propelling the character past 米 (kome, “rice”) in a closely contested race.

The highest number of fatal bear attacks recorded in Japan was six in fiscal year 2023. In fiscal year 2025, 13 people were killed in Japan by bears. The most significant number of people attacked, injured, and recorded was 213 in 2023. As of fiscal 2025, the number stands at 230. Japan uses the fiscal year from April 1 to March 31 for most of its administrative accounting. Bears in Japan typically begin hibernating in December, but attacks can occur at any time of year.Japan has used the fiscal year accounting method to record bear attacks since 2006. The Japan...

A Florida circuit judge refused to halt the long-planned and anticipated Florida bear hunt. The bear hunt is the first to be allowed since 2014-15, when 305 bears were harvested in two days. Bear Warriors United, a non-profit association, attempted to stop the hunt. Here is the first sentence in Bear Warriors United vision: Our vision is to create a Florida where people and wildlife coexist in balance and mutual respect. The vision implies nature is in balance without humans, and animals are legitimately regarded as the equal of humans. It is a basic misunderstanding of reality. There is no...

Teachers fended off a grizzly bear that attacked a school group walking along a trail in British Columbia, Canada, on Thursday, officials said. "The group had stopped along a trail near the community when a grizzly bear emerged from the forest and attacked," Inspector Kevin Van Damme of British Columbia’s Conservation Officer Service, said in an update on social media. "Teachers successfully repelled the bear using pepper spray and a bear banger."

A grizzly bear attacked a group of elementary school students and teachers in Canada, leaving 11 people injured. Two people were left critically injured, and two sustained serious injuries following the attack at Acwsalcta School on Thursday in Bella Coola, northwest of Vancouver. Emergency Health Services spokesman Brian Twaites said in a statement that two ambulances and a helicopter were called to the scene. 'Paramedics provided emergency medical treatment to four patients and transported them to hospital. Two patients were in critical condition and two were in serious condition,' he said. Police corporal Madonna Saunderson said she did not yet...

By Nono Shen, The Canadian Press Posted November 20, 2025 10:13 pm.Last Updated November 21, 2025 1:40 am.A grizzly bear has attacked a group of elementary school students and teachers in the B.C. central coast community of Bella Coola, leaving two people critically injured and two others seriously hurt.B.C. Emergency Health Services said seven more people were treated at the scene of the attack in the community about 700 kilometres northwest of Vancouver, which was called in just before 2 p.m. on Thursday.Veronica Schooner said her 10-year-old son Alvarez was in the Year 4-5 class that was attacked while on...

Decades ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service established a regulatory requirement to report the taking of grizzly bears in self-defense in the lower 48 states.From 50 C.F.R. 17.40(b)(1)(i)(B):Grizzly bears may be taken in self-defense or in defense of others, but such taking shall be reported by the individual who has taken the bear or his designee within 5 days of occurrence… The penalties for failing to report to the authorities within 5 days are up to six months in prison and a $25,000 fine.Tim Sundles of Buffalo Bore Ammunition recently created a video about handguns for defense against wild...

Japan has had ten people killed by bears in 2025. It is a record number, with than 172 people injured by October 22. In 2023, more than 200 were injured, but only six died. Japan has more people killed by bears than the United States. Since Japan started keeping records in 2007, the number of people killed by wild (not captured) bears has been 50 in Japan, with one uncertain, as of October 2025. For the same time period, wild bears killed 35 people in the United States. From japantimes.co.jp:Separate bear attacks in Japan killed one and injured four on...

One of the significant advantages of using handguns to defend against bear attacks is that defense with a handgun is far more likely to result in a dead bear. This is a highly desirable result. Bears that attack humans should be killed. Killing aggressive bears is a way to condition the bear population to avoid humans.The false premise implicit in the argument for non-lethal defenses against bears is that there are such small numbers of bears that killing a bear removes a valuable resource from the bear genetic pool. This view had some legitimacy about 1975-1980, when the population of...

Two fatal bear attacks occurred in Arkansas in 2025. The first attack occurred on September 3, 2025, near the Mulberry Mountain area of north-west Arkansas. The second attack happened on October 1st or 2nd, near the Sam’s Throne campground near Mount Judea. The two attacks happened in or on the edge of the Ozark National Forest, about 45 miles apart.The last fatal bear attack recorded in Arkansas occurred in 1892, as reported from the May 10 edition of the Arkansas Democrat. From aktimes.com:Mountain Home, Ark., May 10 — Mrs. Mary Carter, a widow, with a small family of children, is...

The use of handguns to defend against bear attacks has been shown to be effective 98% of the time. This update details 16 more cases where a handgun was fired in defense against a bear or bears. In this study, all cases where a handgun was fired in defense against a bear are included. This guards against selection bias. Every case is described in detail, allowing readers to draw their own conclusions. If researchers refuse to disclose the data used to support their papers, it detracts from the validity of the conclusions. Extreme accuracy or speed with handguns does not...

On October 8, 2025, an 82-year-old woman was attacked by an Asiatic black bear in the city of Daisen in Akita Prefecture, Japan. The attack was caught on video. The bear is presumed to be an Asiatic black bear because the brown bears (Ursus Arctos) in Japan are limited to the northern island of Hokkaido. Daisen and Akita prefectures are not in Hokkaido. Akita prefecture is on the largest of the Japanese islands, Honshu. Honshu has a significant population of Asiatic black bears. From the bear’s actions, it appears to be a juvenile bear that has not yet perfected its...