Pointing to its constitutional power to manage wildlife, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is urging a judge to toss out a lawsuit that seeks to prevent a bear hunt in December.
The conservation group Bear Warriors United filed the lawsuit in September and is seeking a temporary injunction to halt the hunt, which could lead to as many as 172 bears being killed in four areas of the state. But the commission last week filed documents arguing that Leon County Circuit Judge Angela Dempsey should dismiss the lawsuit and deny a temporary injunction.
The commission’s motion to dismiss the case said Bear Warriors United is asking the court to “encroach upon the commission’s constitutionally derived authority to manage wildlife within the state.”
“In this matter, the commission authorized and enacted a rule that allows for a limited and short-term black bear hunt,” the motion said. “This hunt is for the purpose of managing the state’s population of black bears in a manner that enables it (the population) to continue to thrive, as it has over the last decade under the commission’s management, while also providing for an appropriate balance between the population of bears and the public. This long-held constitutional authority and responsibility of the commission to manage state wildlife species is what not only authorizes but necessitates that it pass such rules.”
Bear hunting has long been controversial in Florida, with the last hunt held in 2015. The commission on Aug. 13 approved this year’s hunt, which is scheduled from Dec. 6 to Dec. 28.
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Bear Warriors United has contended that the decision to hold the hunt was not based on “sound” science and research.
“The FWC’s (Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s) hunt, if it is allowed to go forward, will result in the needless destruction of Florida black bears,” the group’s motion for a temporary injunction said. “Bear Warriors has brought forward competent, substantial evidence showing that FWC’s action in authorizing the bear hunt has violated its constitutional duty to manage the state’s wildlife in a responsible, sound manner.”
Dempsey wrote in an Oct. 20 scheduling order that she would hold a hearing next week or on Nov. 24 or 25. As of Friday morning, a specific date for the hearing had not been posted on an online court docket.
Florida is estimated to have more than 4,000 black bears, which have drawn attention in some parts of the state because of interactions with humans in residential areas. Opponents of the hunt have called for the state to use non-lethal measures such as bear-proofing garbage cans to reduce conflicts between people and bears foraging for food. But many hunters have backed holding the hunt.
Under the commission’s plan, hunters who have received permits through a lottery-style process will each be able to kill one bear, with a maximum total of 172 bears killed. The hunt will be held in four areas of the state — in the Apalachicola region west of Tallahassee; in areas west of Jacksonville; in an area north of Orlando; and in the Big Cypress region southwest of Lake Okeechobee.
In the documents filed last week, the commission pushed back against Bear Warriors United’s contention that the hunt is not based on sound science.
“The commission has determined that the black bear’s population has expanded in several areas, resulting in an increased presence of bears outside of suitable bear habitats, which is compounded by human population growth and expansion,” the commission’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit said. “Stabilizing the bear population through a limited hunt will enable the commission to maintain bears at appropriate population levels in suitable habitats across those four regions of the state, thereby enhancing the long-term survival potential of the species.”
But in its motion for a temporary injunction, filed Oct. 21, Bear Warriors United contended that the commission’s decision to approve the hunt was “based on obsolete data and assumptions, even though updated data is becoming available.”
“Despite having the ability to obtain better scientific data, the FWC commissioners directed staff to prepare a black bear hunt based on stale information,” the group’s motion said. “The result, the Bear Warriors will show, is that bear hunts are being allowed in areas where the bear population is declining or has declining stability.”