Safari Club International (SCI) recently released a documentary-style video about the “recovery” of the Louisiana Black Bear that celebrated Louisiana’s first bear hunting season in over three decades. In this video, SCI makes many exaggerated or outright false claims that need to be corrected:
-1- SCI claims that “anti-hunters” initiated lawsuits challenging the removal of the bear from the Endangered Species List in 2016. This is untrue. Atchafalaya Basinkeeper, LCPA-West, and our allies challenged the decision to remove the bear from the list because of our concerns that the population had not fully recovered and there was not sufficient critical habitat for the bear. ABK and our allies are fierce defenders of the last bastion of Cajun culture based on hunting and fishing in the Atchafalaya Basin, and we are not against sustainable hunting.
-2- SCI claims the recent bear hunting seasons are based on sound science, but LDWF approved the latest bear hunting regulations based on data for coastal bears that was last collected in 2013 and stale data for the rest of the state collected in 2021 showing a shrinking population since the bear was de-listed in 2016. LDWF’s original Black Bear Management Plan stated that any hunt would be based on the prior year’s population data, but the agency is not even collecting comprehensive yearly data to justify these hunts.
-3- SCI claims the recovery of the bear is primarily due to extensive reforestation and habitat recovery efforts. We know that the Louisiana Black Bear builds fat for the winter by feeding on acorns and hickory nuts that are found in mature forest environments, but Louisiana clear cut forested areas they managed that were designated as critical habitat while the bear was still listed. Moreover, SCI claims the state relied primarily on agreements with private landowners to recover lost habitat, but the video fails to mention that the state declined to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars from license plate sales that was designated for habitat restoration, only spending the money on the hunt after changing the law that created the Save the Black Bear license plates and the black bear account fund
Atchafalaya Basinkeeper is fighting to protect the bear, with the dual goals of a fully recovered bear population and the permanent restoration and protection of critical black bear habitat throughout the state for the benefit of the bear and for every Louisianian, not just wealthy individuals and those with political connections.
