http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6jOHQhPflg
The hunt, which was slated to final up to a single week and enable as many as 320 black bears to be killed, was ended immediately after 295 of the animals have been "harvested," the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission mentioned in a statement.
The hunt aimed to stabilize a population of bears that had rebounded to additional than three,000 from a number of hundred in the 1970s, in accordance to the commission.
The agency explained hunting in the central and east panhandle portions of the state have been closed on Saturday, following just one particular day of hunting, as hunters have been additional proficient than anticipated.
"Regulated hunting has a lengthy, productive history of contributing to wildlife conservation in North America. Of the 41 states with resident bear populations, 33 of them perform hunts and all have secure to increasing bear populations," the commission's statement explained.
Hunt opponents held statewide protests on Friday, aiming to construct on the international outrage created this summer season by the killing of Cecil, a uncommon black-maned lion, by an American dentist who was on an African hunting journey.
A couple of dozen held a vigil on Sunday for the bears at a wildlife management area at Rock Springs Run in Sorrento, in accordance to the Orlando Sentinel newspaper.
"The actual raw fact of the matter of dropping these bears is devastating to many of us in the local community," Emily Ruff, of the Florida School of Holistic Living, informed the newspaper.
State wildlife officers have obtained growing complaints about bears in neighborhoods close to woodlands wherever the animals have long roamed, as suburban development has even more encroached on to their habitat.
Open garbage cans and unattended backyard grills entice bears seeking for an uncomplicated meal. Hunt opponents say applications to get rid of such food sources could lower conflicts between bears and people a lot more properly than hunting.
At least 4 Floridians have been injured in bear attacks in the previous two many years, mainly in the suburbs north of Orlando.
The hunt comes at a time when a number of western states are thinking of rules that would make it less difficult to hunt cougars, however the scope of the expansion varies broadly, according to the Humane Society.
(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco Added reporting by Letitia Stein in Tampa, Florida and Barbara Liston in Orlando, Florida Editing by Nick Macfie)
