A conservation group has filed a lawsuit seeking to block the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission from holding the state’s first bear hunt in a decade.

Bear Warriors United filed the lawsuit Wednesday in Leon County circuit court, contending the commission violated several legal requirements, including approving a hunt using “obsolete” bear population numbers.

“This is wrong. We do not have an overpopulation of bears. We have an overpopulation of greed, money, and of people trying to take away their habitat. These bears have nowhere to go,” Bear Warriors United Attorney, Raquel Levy said.

The lawsuit argues that killing 187 bears will cause imminent and irreparable harm to the Florida black bear species because the FWC’s decision is not grounded on scientific wildlife mana

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