The Florida State’s bear population has grown to about 3000 bears from a mere 300 in the 1970’s due to the State’s wildlife conservation policy. But, now the same agency, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission had turned a killer by announcing a week long bear hunt that ended on Saturday with a target of killing 320 bears statewide citing hundreds of neighborhood bear incidents over the past couple of years. The bear hunt opponents Chuck O’Neal’s group, Speak Up Wekiva, filed a lawsuit to block the bear hunt, citing unsound science used by the state. But, lost in court. The state says Florida’s 1st bear hunt in 21 years has nothing to do with the bear attacks.
So far 207 bears had been killed across the state with the following tally:
| Central Florida | 99 |
| North Florida | 12 |
| South Florida | 15 |
| In the panhandle | 81 |
The bear hunting will continue where the quota set is not reached. The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission set up 33 “check-in” stations to update the statewide tally each night. Volunteers from Speak Up Wekiva who monitored the hunt from the check-in stations pleaded with wildlife officials to call off the hunt Saturday night. One of the first kills of the day came in at the Rock Springs monitoring station around 10 a.m. A young woman shot dead a lactating female.
For hundred bucks apiece lives are lost, said a protester. Neither baits nor dogs can be used to halt the bear for the hunter to shoot it down. Every bear hunter is also encouraged to bring with them a can of anti-bear pepper spray. As per the estimate, each bear hunter had about a 7 percent chance of actually seeing a bear. So the hunters are sitting very quietly, waiting and waiting. The bears have to bear the brunt till Sunday.
Source: Fox News
