Wildlife
authorities say hunt had neared official objective of 320 bears
More
than 3,200 hunters had bought licenses to participate
Associated
Press in Fort Lauderdale
Monday
26 October 2015 12.50 GMT
After
just two days, Florida ended its controversial black bear hunt because a higher than expected number
of bears had been killed. Wildlife authorities said late on Sunday that 295
bears were taken overall, nearing the official limit.
The Florida fish
and wildlife conservation commission (FWC) posted a statement on its website
saying it had closed the 2015 hunt because it was approaching an agency
“objective” of 320 bears overall.
“The
2015 bear hunt is officially over,” the statement said.
Wildlife officials
had already shut down hunting in designated central and east Panhandle regions
of Florida after the first day, Saturday.
They
said 112 bears were killed in the Panhandle region at last count, nearly triple
the 40 kill limit for that area. In the central region, 139 bears were killed,
it said. The agency’s statement added that 23 bears were taken in the north
unit at last count and 21 bears in the south unit before those final two areas
were closed on Sunday to hunting.
“From
a biological sustainable population perspective, none of these numbers are
worrisome to us. We have large growing bear populations,” said the FWC’s Thomas
Eason, speaking on Sunday before the overall hunt had ended.
The
statement late on Sunday said additional north and south units were closed to
hunting after the second day, meaning hunting had ended in all four “bear
management units” were it was allowed.
Authorities
said they were not alarmed by the numbers, saying the figures suggested the
bear population was higher than they thought. The hunt was approved earlier
this year after considerable and contentious debate. Backers estimated
Florida’s black bear population had grown to 3,500 – from a few hundred in the
1970s. But opponents challenged those numbers.
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