Florida thrives on its natural beauty, which attracts hundreds of thousands of new residents every year. Unfortunately, such massive growth creates the need for more places to live, which in turn drives development into more pristine habitat―creating potential conflicts, including with Florida’s iconic black bears.

But rather than promote appropriate coexistence measures, HB 87 will open the door to unlimited killing of Florida’s black bears. This approach not only threatens a beloved species but has the potential to raise serious legal issues.

Millions of Floridians coexist peacefully with bears each year. However, unless Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoes HB 87, someone will be able to kill a bear on their property simply by feeling threatened, with no need to follow any established process that delineates thresholds for taking action, as many other states require. This low bar for lethal action is unnecessary, and this bill directly undermines the progress we’ve made to strengthen the prospects for human-wildlife coexistence, allowing subjective fear alone to justify killing bears, even when they pose no real threat.

Promoting the shooting of bears on sight can be dangerous to public safety and promises to be a nightmare for law enforcement agencies. Untrained individuals could produce chaos and tragedy in their communities due to lack of knowledge concerning wildlife behavior, conflict resolution, and gun safety. This approach puts such individuals, their families, and their neighbors at risk.

Beyond safety concerns, HB 87 is simply unnecessary. It’s already legal in Florida to kill a bear in self-defense, and to use non-lethal methods to scare bears off private property. In the unlikely event that, non-lethal methods fail to resolve property damage problems, landowners can obtain a permit from the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to take lethal measures.

In fact, HB 87 faces a significant constitutional hurdle precisely because it would upend the state’s system of expert wildlife management. Under the state constitution, laws that conflict with FWC regulations are unconstitutional. HB 87 is directly at odds with FWC’s existing rules, which properly treat killing as a last resort. If passed, HB 87 is likely bound for the courts where the state will be forced to waste taxpayer money defending a losing case.

Human-bear conflicts almost always revolve around food. Bears have an incredibly strong sense of smell, and unsecured trash cans, unsecured bird feeders and pet food left outdoors can lure wildlife in close to human occupied areas. HB 87 does nothing to address this persistent challenge in a proactive and effective manner; it simply allows for the killing of any bear who stumbles into the wrong situation while looking for food. The simple truth is this; we cannot kill our way out of human-bear conflicts and allowing unpermitted killing of countless bears under the guise of protecting safety, or even just protecting property, is no kind of solution.

More: Bear legislation is designed to protect the animal – and humans

Gov. DeSantis should veto HB 87. Instead of advocating for lethal measures, let’s focus on educating communities about bears. By teaching people to coexist responsibly and competently addressing attractant issues, we can ensure human safety and the survival of these beloved animals. Let’s not succumb to fear-mongering or unconstitutional proposals; instead, let’s shift to conflict prevention by prioritizing education and responsible practices all around.

Kate MacFall is the Florida Senior State Director for the Humane Society of the United States.

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Bear legislation is a bad move for wildlife and Floridians