From WMBB EASTPOINT, Fla. After discussing the issue for up to eight hours, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission voted to postpone any bear hunt in 2016 Wednesday night. The agency held the first sanctioned bear hunt in more than two decades last Fall, but called it off after two days as hunters quickly reached the 320 bear quota. Commission members spent the entire day Wednesday hearing from staff who recommended a more conservative hunt and about 100 people on both sides of the issue. Among the crowd was a mother with an emotional plea. "52 bite marks down the right side of her body, half of her face was ripped open, her ear ripped off," Sherri Mann said about her daughter Leah, who was attacked by a black bear in 2014. Mann told commissioner she supports a highly regulated hunting season. "After ya'll had the first hunt, it made a difference, like we haven't had a bear in our neighborhood in almost four months now," Mann said. FWC biologists said the hunts are an effective way to manage a growing bear population in the face of an increasing number of bear-human encounters, but environmental advocates said there are other tools. Advocates said it's the state that needs to do a better job of regulating human behavior. They point to the lack of proper garbage disposal, which is a prime source of easy food for bears. "Change is hard, but please consider other options of bear management that might be inconvenient at first but could indeed be viable," ten-year old Megan Sorbo, who may have been the smallest advocate among the crowd, said. The commission expected four-hours of public comment,but the public used every bit of that and then some. The commission considered a more conservative hunt, with fewer permits and fewer authorized areas for hunting. It would also be broken up into three different hunts of four days each. Wednesday's approved option will give the FWC more time to work with stakeholders, local communities and the public to better develop the important role hunting plays in Florida's comprehensive bear management program.
