Sarasota in Defense of Animals to hold event at Bayfront Park on June 18
Sarasota in Defense of Animals, a nonprofit organization, is inviting everyone “appalled at the decision of the [Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission] to proceed with plans for another bear hunt in 2016” to gather at 11 a.m. on Saturday, June 18, at Sarasota’s Bayfront Park for a protest.
“SDA challenges the alleged bear population increase in the state of Florida on which the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) decision was based,” a news release says. “After outrage of Floridians at the bloodbath that bears suffered in last Fall’s FWC hunt,” the release adds, “it is unconscionable that a second hunt is planned.”
The Sarasota protest is being held in conjunction with such efforts across the state on the same day, the release notes. Those planning to participate in the Sarasota event are advised to use the south entrance to Bayfront Park, from U.S. 41.
FWC biologists are recommending a more limited event this fall, the Tampa Bay Times reported last week. The FWC is expected to address the proposed options when it meets on June 22 in Apalachicola, the Times article noted.
Last year, the article said, 75 percent of the 40,000 people who provided comments to FWC about the plans for the first bear hunt expressed their opposition to it.