Bear Warriors United, a nonprofit advocating for Florida's black bears, challenged the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's decision to allow what the agency calls a "highly regulated" black bear hunt.

However, the organization's efforts fell short when a judge denied its efforts to halt the hunt.

"It's designed to slow the population growth," argued bear biologist Michael Orlando during a hearing in Tallahassee Monday. He helped review the data for the FWC's August approval for a bear hunt.

Arguing against the hunt was another biologist, Darcy Doran-Myers, an expert witness for Bear Warriors United, who used to work for FWC and helped write the agency’s 2019 bear management plan. She called it “the road map, and the end goal.”

But how they interpreted that data took the

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