§ 379.40411, Fla. Stat. · Part VIII. PENALTIES
Taking of bears; use of lethal force in defense of person or certain property.
Text — 2026 Florida Statutes
(1) A person is not subject to any administrative, civil, or criminal penalty for taking a bear with lethal force if:
(a) The person reasonably believed that his or her action was necessary to avoid an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury to himself or herself or to another, an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury to a pet, or substantial damage to a dwelling as defined in s. 776.013(5);
(b) The person did not lure the bear with food or attractants for an illegal purpose, including, but not limited to, training dogs to hunt bears;
(c) The person did not intentionally or recklessly place himself or herself or a pet in a situation in which he or she would be likely to need to use lethal force as described in paragraph (a); and
(d) The person notified the commission within 24 hours after he or she used lethal force to take the bear.
(2) A bear taken under this section must be disposed of by the commission. A person who takes a bear under this section may not possess, sell, or dispose of the bear or its parts.
(3) The commission shall adopt rules to implement this section.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
s. 2, ch. 2024-256.
Source of truth
- Edition
- 2026 Florida Statutes
- Official file
- https://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0300-0399/0379/0379.html
- Text hash
- sha256 075eda6bc2f6bc9cc11a2d39e9b6c71f41d6814c7a011a18071cceec9f23171f
- Composed by
- compose_v2.py 2026-10-04: the Legislature's structured HTML read in document order; verify_v2.py's independent reading agrees character for character
- composed from the Legislature's structured HTML (one source of text; no PDF extraction); a second, independent reading of the same bytes agrees character for character
This section cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.