Using bait and hounds for hunting bears is legal in several states.
I think the prosecutors statements are inflammatory on purpose.
There are hundreds of video’s of bear hunting with hounds on the net.
Without seeing the actual videos I would not be to quick to judge.
There are videos of all kinds of illegal hunts-from using dogs to “canned” hunts on the internet-it does not make them legal in every state, or something any real hunter considers a proper way to hunt and make a humane kill...
Dogs can be used to tree small game/varmints in a hunt, or to run down and corner wild hogs-but there is no season on varmints or those wild hogs we are overrun with. You can’t hunt/run deer or any other game with dogs-the fine can be in the 10s of thousands if you are busted. Bears can’t be hunted at all here-there are not enough of them to maintain a healthy population yet...
Proper game management is what Game Wardens are hired to do-it is essential to maintain a healthy balance in the natural world-and it doesn’t include trapping animals and torturing them while you make a video of it to sell or show to make you feel like you are cool-if you want to hunt the animal, do it legally and humanely, transport your kill from the field, process and put it in the freezer for future meals, rugs, throws, vests, etc...
Bear hunting in any form is illegal in Florida at this time-hunting of a species is based on maintaining the numbers for a healthy predator/prey balance-last time there was a limited bear season was about 5 years ago. Hunting bears with dogs is not legal in Florida, either-if it isn’t a legal hunt by legal means, then it is illegal-in this case, it is probably animal cruelty-to the dogs as well as the bears-not a hunt-more like a fight/bear baiting-all it needs is a fighting enclosure, spectators and betting going on.
When I was a kid, there were neighboring ranchers who engaged in cock fighting and wagering on those fights-they also raised roosters for that purpose-it was illegal and considered animal cruelty then-same as it is now-what the Florida couple did was way closer to blood sport than any “hunting”...