ORLANDO, Fla. – Hundreds of Floridians are attending an Orlando rally Thursday morning sponsored by the organization "Speak Up Wekiva" in hopes of halting the first bear hunting season in two decades.
The Seminole-County based group has requested a temporary injunction against the bear-hunting season. It claims with more than 2,200 bear-hunting permits already issued, the number of bears killed could exceed the state target of 320.
A judge is set to hear argument in a lawsuit against the hunt next week.
In Jacksonville Beach, a 300-pound black bear was spotted last September in the back of a condo. It was tranquilized, tagged and taken to Camp Blanding. Days later the bear had to be euthanized.
Bears have been scene in Clay, Baker, St. Johns, Columbia, and Duval counties since 2006.
Many people want to preserve and protect wildlife. One of the organizers of Thursday's rally claims leaders across the state received thousands of e-mails against the hunt. The hunt was approved anyway. But not everyone agrees with the group.
Chris Beladi saw bears earlier this month in Orlando. He says he's looking forward to the hunt.
"Well it's a special opporunity that's been afforded to us in the state of florida and it hasn't happened ever in my lifetime so i'm excited about the opporunity," said hunter Chris Beladi.
According to a spokesperson with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, estimates show the bear population in northern and central Florida has increased nearly 30 percent since 2002. She says the population is estimated by the number of calls made to FWC and the number of bears killed on roadways.
"We're against it because there are only 3-thousand bears left in the state so what is that saying to us that they've already approved a hunt to kill 320 of them," said Julie Watkins, who's against the hunt and is leading the rally.
"Speak Up Wekiva" has requested a temporary injunction against the hunt and wants to speed up the review of a lawsuit blocking the hunt. The complaint claims the hunt is not based on science and that it won't reduce the number of conflicts bears have with humans.
If approved the hunt would take place Oct. 24 and last two to seven days.
According to a statement from a spokesperson with FWC says "The bear harvest will be limited through daily decisions... based on daily harvest totals. Experience in other states with a similar hunt structure indicates that hunter success is relatively low."
Bear hunters who have gone to Green Acres Sporting Goods on the Westside are looking forward to the hunt.
"We've had about a dozen people come through. They seem pretty excited. A lot of em are getting prepared," said Phillip Gazaleh with Green Acres Sporting Goods.
As for the rally Watkins is just hopeful she can put a stop to the hunt.
"If it does go through we've got different protests set up throughout the state in all of the major cities that's gonna happen the day before the hunt," said Watkins.
The FWC spokesperson says it is reviewing the injunction and that it's confident in its decisions, she wouldn't elaborate on what those decisions are.