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Bears need 'sanctuaries' from hunters, biologists say

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RoosGirl:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/os-florida-bear-sanctuaries-no-hunt-20160607-story.html

Florida wildlife biologists want "sanctuaries" established where black bears would be off limits to hunters.

In a nine-page letter filled with research citations, the biologists also called on the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission to postpone future hunts until the agency re-evaluates its method to set the number of bears that can be killed in a hunt.

"Allowing the overall hunt to continue as it did in 2015 ... and the continuing high rate of roadkill, lethal control by wildlife managers, and poaching may well plunge multiple [bear] subpopulations into sharp decline as it has done in other states," wildlife biologists Matthew Aresco, Joseph Guthrie and Joseph Travis wrote in a letter.

The Florida Wildlife Federation, a conservation group that has worked closely with state wildlife officials, sent a similar letter that also called for bear sanctuaries and urged the agency to be "very conservative" in considering hunts this year and next.


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