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Hunters Could Outnumber Bears

August 26th, 2015 by flanews

Bear hunting season in Florida will be in effect in about two months. Officials say it’s an effort to help maintain the bear population, but as Matt Galka tells us, wildlife advocates are concerned about the amount of people who have already bought a permit.

The woods could get a little more crowded in October. Nearly 1800 people bought permits to hunt the Florida Black Bear. The state’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission recently revived a week long season in an effort to control population.

But wildlife advocates aren’t happy. Laura Bevan with the Humane Society of the United States says the hunters far outnumber the quota being set by the FWC.

“We have a real concern about flooding almost two thousand people, maybe more, into the woods, to hunt bear that are not used to being hunted, and that we are going to really decimate the population,” she said.

The FWC’s quota is expected to be around 320 bears for the entire season.

Bear hunting has been outlawed in the state since 1994 because of low population. But increased numbers and safeguards has the FWC convinced the quota won’t be exceeded.

They told us in an email that bag limits and monitoring could end the season early.

Eric Draper with the Florida Audubon isn’t convinced this is best for the population, and says they should focus more on limiting contact with humans.

 

“If people would do a better job of managing garbage, the bears would stay in the woods where they belong, and we wouldn’t have to send hunters out there to kill them,” he said.

Permits range from $100 dollars for residents to $300 dollars for out of staters.

The season is scheduled for October 24th and set to run 7 days.  State fish and wildlife officials are expected to discuss the quota next week in Fort Lauderdale. Permits will be available up until the hunt begins.

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