Dozens gathered outside the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s office in Downtown St. Petersburg Saturday to protest the Florida bear hunt.
- 30 Florida cities protested bear hunting in Florida
- 298 bears were killed in last year's hunt
Last year, FWC brought back the hunt after two decades to help slow the growth of the bear population. The total harvest was 298 bears.
"It was atrocious last year what the FWC did in allowing more than 300 bears to be slaughtered in two days,” Frank Jackalone, the Sierra Club Florida Chapter Director, said. “That has to stop. So we are here and we know thousands of others are with us."
St. Petersburg residents joined about 30 other Florida cities in protest Saturday.
"People move to Florida to be around nature, so many of the cities in the state have said we actually do want nature here, and if you kill all the animals you in many respects kill the reason we moved here,” St. Petersburg City Councilman Karl Nurse said.
Earlier this month, the St. Petersburg City Council passed a proclamation banning black bear hunting.
"We need to learn to live with nature and not move them around,” 10-year-old Charlotte Shaw said.
"We are so lucky we live in this beautiful place and we can’t just expect that humans can come in and take over everything and let’s be more responsible, let’s find a different way,” Charlotte’s mom, Kristi Shaw, said.
FWC will vote on this year’s bear hunt on June 22.