Lindsay Cross blasts ‘wildlife cruelty’ in proposed 2025 bear hunt, urges FWC to shoot it down

Rep. Lindsay Cross , a St. Petersburg Democrat and an environmental scientist, is calling on the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to vote down a proposal to open a 23-day bear hunt period in four regions across the state.

Announced in May, the proposal would allow hunting in a region of Southwest Florida, East-Central Florida south of Jacksonville and in the Gainesville area, a north region west of Jacksonville, and the eastern Panhandle west of Big Bend.

The vote is expected this week.

In a letter to FWC Commissioners , Cross took particular issue with the proposal’s inclusion of three hunting methods she described as “wildlife cruelty”: hounding, baiting and archery.

Hounding involves the use of hunting dogs that chase prey, often until they are exhaust