Activists have been trying to prevent a seven-day Florida bear hunting season from taking place since it’s passage in June. With little more than a month to go before the October 24 opener, and with Florida Governor Rick Scott’s continued refusal to intervene, an animal-rights group has filed an emergency motion to prevent the bear hunt from occurring.
The Lake Mary, Florida-based Speak Up Wekiva Inc. filed the motion in response to what it calls an “arbitrary and capricious rule” that would allow hunters to kill an unlimited amount of the estimated 3,150 black bears in the state. It claims the unlimited number of tags available—more than 2,000 have been sold so far—would enable hunters to kill more bears than the 320 desired by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
The hunt is the first in 21 years. Bears were listed as threatened in Florida until the FFWCC delisted the species in 2012. Populations have increased since 2002, with officials estimating the number of bears to have risen by 50 percent to roughly 3,150. With that increase are more human-bear encounters, including four attacks since 2012. The hunting season is aimed at reducing the number of encounters.
Four sections of the state have been designated for the hunt: the eastern Panhandle, Northeast Florida, Southeast Florida, and east-central Florida. Season lengths will range from two to seven days depending on the area.
A guaranteed permit doesn’t equal a guaranteed kill; the state has issued an unlimited number of permits to bear hunters, with the stipulation that hunting will cease statewide when the 320th bear is killed. When that happens, Florida will close the hunting in all four sections—whether the seven days are up or not. The hunt will last at least two days, regardless of how many bears are killed.
Speak Up Wekiva worries the closure will not take place in time and more than 320 bears will be killed.
According to NewsTalk Florida, lawyers for the animal-rights group told the Leon County Circuit Court judge the FFWCC will be unable to stop the hunt until after the first two days, regardless of how many bears are killed in that time. Fox 51 reports Speak Up Wekiva filed the motion on questions of constitutionality and the belief that the hunt will not prevent bear attacks in urban areas by killing bears in the country.
The Orlando Weekly explains:
“The group is deriving this conclusion from FWC rules it included in its motion, which state: ‘If a [Bear Management Unit’s] harvest objective, established pursuant to subparagraph 2., is attained prior to the season close and on or after the second day of the season, that BMU’s season shall close at 11:59 p.m. on the day its harvest objective is attained.'”
Governor Scott said he would not overturn the hunt prior to the vote in June but reiterated his stance Tuesday, according to the Orlando Weekly. Speak Up Wekiva and other groups are holding a joint press conference September 24 to rally against the scheduled hunt.
Speak Up Wekiva commented on the ongoing debate via its website.
“Its odd that we had to sue the agency responsible for protecting the environment in order to protect the environment; and now we have to sue the agency responsible for conserving wildlife in order to conserve wildlife - but that’s the world we live in,” a statement reads.
While Speak Up has been labeled a conservation group, preservation would be a more appropriate label. In wildlife management, conservation refers to the sustained use of a natural resource, with emphasis being placed on carefully-managed use. Effort is made to avoid the wasting or loss of the resource while benefitting mankind. Preservationists believe mankind should not use a resource at all. Instead, nature should be protected in perpetuity with no human interference—for instance, controlled burning versus fire prevention.
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