By Dave Workman
Florida’s planned black bear hunt will go forward as scheduled, running Dec. 6-28, after a circuit court judge in Leon County denied a request for a temporary injunction from an anti-hunting group seeking to block the hunt.
The Tallahassee Democrat is reporting Judge Angela Dempsey rejected the request from Bear Warriors United because the motion “failed to meet the legal threshold, including showing a likelihood of irreparable harm taking place.” However, the judge also reportedly would “entertain the idea of hearing evidence in the full suit.”
Black bear hunting has been closed in the state since 2015, according to the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). The commission says the black bear population has recovered from a low back in the 1970s to more than 4,000 today.
But the Bear Warriors group contends the state decided to open the December bear hunt “based on outdated and stale population information and models.” The group’s attorney, Thomas P. Crapps with the Meenan Law Firm of Tallahassee asserted the commission made the decision for political purposes, not scientific management, according to WUSF News.
The Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation had urged the court to allow the Florida hunt, and the group declared victory when Judge Dempsey ruled to allow the hunt. The group declared victory with the judge’s decision.
FWC assistant general counsel Rhonda E. Parnell dismissed complaints from the Bear Warriors that the commission hadn’t followed the law. Quoted by the Tallahassee newspaper, Parnell observed, “Just because you do not agree with the decision does not mean that due process has been violated.”
She also reportedly observed, “This becomes Bear Warriors whining about what they did not get. They didn’t get what they wanted, because they didn’t want a bear hunt.”
There has been no indication the anti-hunting group will appeal, but it would not be surprising.
The bear population has grown enough that some of the bruins in the Osceola harvest zone have actually moved into the Okefenokee Swamp in neighboring south Georgia, according to FWC Bear Management Program Coordinator Michael Orlando, the newspaper said.
Historically, black bear hunting was allowed from the 1930s until 1994. Hunting did not occur again until the 2015 hunt, when 304 bears were reportedly taken, WUSF reported.
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