Being a Voice for Black Bears

Protesters gathered in front of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission headquarters in Tallahassee on the eve of the state?s first bear hunt in 21 years. Protestors gathered in front of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission headquarters in Tallahassee on the eve of the state's first bear hunt in 21 years.

Photo by Karl Etters

Florida black bears need our powerful and creative advocacy. After bringing these magnificent animals back from threatened status, the state wildlife agency, urged by political forces, opened a hunting season on bears in October 2015. This, despite the opposition of more than three-quarters of Floridians, and many of others from around the world.

On this page I offer you some resources to strengthen your resolve and your imaginative inner selves, to be a voice for bears.

Mary Jane Ryals, former Poet Laureate of the Big Bend of Florida, reads her poem “Elegy for the Bears,” written in response to the 2015 hunt that slaughtered 300 Florida black bears.
https://youtu.be/Owe6hKdwNpg

Description and commentary on the Bear Requiem Dark Matter: Women Witnessing – Issue #3, December 2015