No Bears Killed in Recent “Hunt” in Virginias Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge

At least some good news today.

Article:

Dismal Swamp hunt produces no bears

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The Associated Press

Dec 4, 2006

SUFFOLK -- A weekend black bear hunt in the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge that prompted an unsuccessful legal challenge by animal-rights activists ended without a kill.
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U.S. District Judge Henry C. Morgan Jr. late Thursday refused to halt the two-day hunt, which ended Saturday.

Refuge manager Suzanne Baird said a few hunters saw bears, but nobody shot one. Wildlife officials had expected about 10 kills -- half the total number allowed.

Between 250 and 350 bears are thought to live in and around the 111,000-acre refuge. A lottery was held to award permits to 58 hunters, who were restricted to two areas totaling about 21,000 acres in the southeastern Virginia portion of the refuge. Part of the refuge is in northeastern North Carolina.

In his ruling last week, Morgan said there was no evidence to support claims that the federal government did not comply with procedures for opening the refuge to bear hunting and that the recreational hunt would irreparably harm the refuge's black bear population.