FORT MYERS, Fla. – Govt Director of All Florida Travis Thompson pushed again towards activists’ claims {that a} regulated Florida black bear hunt would endanger the species, calling the argument “worry mongering” not rooted in science.
“No animal that has been regulated and hunted has ever gone extinct,” Thompson mentioned in an interview on Florida’s Voice Radio with Drew Steele. “It is a worry mongering story from the novel environmentalists on the market … they need emotion to drive wildlife coverage, not science.”
Thompson pointed to Modification 2, accepted by voters in 2024, which aimed to make sure wildlife administration selections are based mostly on scientific information quite than activist strain.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Fee has studied the state’s bear inhabitants and issued what he referred to as “a very conservative quantity” of 186 looking tags.
“Even when each tag was stuffed and all harvested bears have been feminine, the inhabitants would both keep secure or proceed to develop,” Thompson mentioned. “There could be no change in inhabitants happening.”
Thompson mentioned the controversy displays a broader divide between hunters and animal rights activists, noting that many Floridians get pleasure from seeing bears within the wild but additionally acknowledge the necessity for regulated administration.
“That is only a Hail Mary by these radical teams to lift funds and scare individuals,” Thompson mentioned. “I’m a hunter, I’m an advocate, however I additionally love seeing bears out in wild locations.”
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