TALLAHASSEE --- 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 15-page lawsuit Wednesday in Leon County circuit court, contending the commission violated several legal requirements, including approving a hunt using “obsolete” bear population numbers. The 23-day hunt, approved by the commission last month, is scheduled to start Dec. 6.

Bear Warriors United cited what is known as a state “bear management plan” and the commission’s approval for hunters to kill up to 187 bears during the period.

“The FWC’s (Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s) action permitting the black bear hunt directly contradicts the 2019 bear management plan and

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