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Duck hunters cause concern for Casselberry residents living near Lost Lake

By Angela Jacobs, WFTV.com
By Angela Jacobs, WFTV.com
Numerous Casselberry residents living in the area of Lost Lake were startled away Sunday by the gunshots of hunters shooting at ducks on the lake.
Resident Shannon Littrell was one of the residents who eventually called police about the shooting so near residences.
“This is the middle of the city,” she said. “This is a neighborhood.”
Her husband, Larry Littrell, remembered being confused and concerned by what police told him when he dialed 911.
“’We’ve been getting calls on this all morning, it’s not a big deal,’” dispatchers told him.
“These people have permission to be out there, which was shocking to me,” Larry Littrell said.
City ordinances are in place to protect wildlife in Casselberry, and a hunter was arrested two years ago for shooting at ducks, officials said.
The charges against the hunter were eventually dropped because the city did not have jurisdiction over waterways.
That authority lies with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Casselberry Police Chief Larry Krantz said.
He wasn’t thrilled about the idea of someone hunting so close to homes, though, Krantz said.
“Our preference would be we don’t want anybody hunting, especially in close proximity to houses,” he said.
Per state law, officers found the hunters were shooting in a legal and reasonable manner and they were allowed to continue, Krantz said.
Casselberry city leaders said they would express their concerns to the FWC, but Shannon Littrell worried that in the interim something tragic could happen.
“It just seems like hazardous and unsafe,” she said. “Like an accident waiting to happen.”

Cox Media Group

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