Arguing that Florida’s decision to hold a bear hunt in December is not based on “sound” science and research, a conservation group this week asked a judge for an emergency temporary injunction to halt the hunt.
The group Bear Warriors United made the injunction request as part of a lawsuit filed in September challenging the decision by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to approve the hunt. As many as 172 black bears could be killed during the hunt, which is scheduled from Dec. 6 to Dec. 28.
“The FWC’s (Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s) hunt, if it is allowed to go forward, will result in the needless destruction of Florida black bears,” the injunction motion said. “Bear Warriors has brought forward competent, substantial evidence showing that FWC’s action in authorizing the bear hunt has violated its constitutional duty to manage the state’s wildlife in a responsible, sound manner.”
The commission has not filed arguments in the case, but Leon County Circuit Judge Angela Dempsey said in a scheduling order Monday that the agency plans to seek dismissal of the lawsuit. Dempsey will hold a hearing during the week of Nov. 17 to Nov. 21 or on Nov. 24 or Nov. 25 on the Bear Warriors United request for an injunction and on the commission’s motion to dismiss the case, the order said.
Dempsey on Monday also approved a request by the group Safari Club International to intervene in the case to help defend the hunt.
In its motion to intervene, Safari Club International called hunting a “valuable tool” for managing black bears across the country.
“Almost every North American jurisdiction with a sizable resident black bear population maintains a regulated bear hunting season,” the organization said in the filing. “Bear populations in these jurisdictions are stable or increasing.”
Bear hunting has long been controversial in Florida, with the last hunt held in 2015. When the commission approved this year’s hunt on Aug. 13, Commissioner Gary Lester said the agency’s staff members brought forward “good, solid science for us to follow.”
Under the plan, hunters who received permits through a lottery-style process will each be able to kill one bear, with a maximum total of 172 bears killed. The hunt will be held in four areas of the state — in the Apalachicola region west of Tallahassee; in areas west of Jacksonville; in an area north of Orlando; and in the Big Cypress region southwest of Lake Okeechobee.
The state had an estimated 4,050 bears in 2015, considered the most recent figures by the commission.
Bear Warriors United attorneys argued Tuesday in the injunction motion that the decision to approve the hunt was “not based on sound research, science and management techniques.” Among other things, the motion contended that the decision was “based on obsolete data and assumptions, even though updated data is becoming available.”
“Despite having the ability to obtain better scientific data, the FWC commissioners directed staff to prepare a black bear hunt based on stale information,” the motion said. “The result, the Bear Warriors will show, is that bear hunts are being allowed in areas where the bear population is declining or has declining stability.”
–Jim Saunders, News Service of Florida
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