A Tallahassee judge on Monday dismissed a proposed injunction against the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission that proposed to halt next month’s bear hunt.
Lawyers for hunt opponents argued FWC’s decision was not based on good science and was simply another trophy hunt.
FWC’s lawyer responded that hunt opponents were simply “whining” because they did not prevail in the debate, according to the Tallahassee Democrat.
In a statement issued Tuesday Sierra Club Florida called the ruling “a serious setback for Florida’s wildlife and for the countless Floridians who have worked tirelessly over the past year to stop this cruel and unnecessary hunt” adding ” The science is clear, the public has spoken, and nothing about this decision changes the facts: Florida does not need a bear hunt.”
The rationale for the hunt was that it was necessary to protect bears from the effects of urban sprawl, especially in the Florida Panhandle.
But as we pointed out in this space earlier this year that part of Florida where the hunt will occur is sparsely populated
Hunt proponents also used the passage of a badly worded constitutional right to hunt amendment, which Sierra opposed, to justify the hunt.
We hate to say we told you so, but we told you so.