TALLAHASSEE, Florida — A state judge on Monday rejected an animal rights groups’ request to block the first Florida bear hunt in more than a decade.
Details: Circuit Judge Angela Dempsey in Tallahassee said testimony by a state wildlife official about the hunt being conservative and based on the best available science was credible. She also said opponents had not demonstrated they are likely to succeed in their lawsuit challenging the legality of the hunt.
“This hunt is significantly more conservative than that 2015 hunt both in number of bears that could be harvested as well as the timing, when it’s less likely for more female bears to be killed,” Dempsey said.
Katrina Shadix of Bear Warriors United, which filed the lawsuit in state circuit court in September after the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission approved the hunt in August, said after the hearing that FWC won “based on lies and technicalities.”
