Uthmeier says he’ll push to increase criminal penalties for poaching next legislative session

The penalties for illegal hunting or taking of wildlife in Florida could be about to get more punitive.

Attorney General James Uthmeier announced Tuesday that his office will advocate for the Florida Legislature to pass a bill next year to enhance criminal penalties for individuals convicted of poaching of animals.

“Over the last year and a half since I’ve been in office as attorney general, we’ve received quite a few complaints where poaching is very prevalent here in the state of Florida,” Uthmeier said during a press conference in Panama City Beach.

“We don’t have a lot of prosecutions when people are caught. Right now, most poaching offenses are mere misdemeanors. It’s a slap on the wrist and it has not been enough to deter bad actors who are out there breaking the law.”

Poaching in Florida is defined as the illegal hunting, capturing, killing, or trafficking of fish and wildlife.

The penalty for the unlawful taking of an animal on private land would increase from a misdemeanor to a third-degree felony with potential for prison time, Uthmeier said. If an individual is convicted of poaching on private land near people, a dwelling, or infrastructure, the penalty would be elevated to a second-degree felony.

Repeated poaching could become a first-degree felony, “where you are looking at several years, many years behind bars,” he said.

Florida Land Council Chair Joshua Kellem led the constitutional amendment campaign establishing a right to hunt and fish in Florida in 2024. He said he hears frequently from Land Council members that poachers have been repeat offenders.

“Even some of the same poachers have been busted on the same property three, four, five times. That somebody committed a crime three, four, five times and not be prosecuted is insane and has to be fixed.”

Uthmeier said he’d like the statewide prosecutor to assume jurisdiction to prosecute poaching to ensure that those arrested are held accountable.