Florida Fish & Wildlife website says we are living in bear country. For many people seeing a black bear is a thrilling, rewarding experience. The presence of bears is not necessarily a problem or a threat to your safety. But it is important to remember that bears are wild animals and deserve respect. If you are not careful, you could break the law and risk both your own safety and the bear's.
Problems arise when bears have access to food sources such as pet foods, garbage, barbecue grills, bird seed or even livestock feed. Bears are adaptable and learn very quickly to associate people with food. Even though black bears are normally too shy to risk contact with humans, their powerful need to find food can overwhelm this fear.
Bears can smell food from over a mile away. Bears will travel great distances to track down these tasty smells and often cross roadways and bridges to do so, which creates risk to not only themselves, but to motorists as well. Bears are driven by their need to eat, so anything that is easily accessible and can be eaten is a potential bear attractant.
Presently, garbage is by far the biggest bear attractant in Florida. The calories a bear can consume by picking through one garbage can often surpass the forage they can find in an entire day. It is important to keep the temptation of garbage away from bears, because the more dependent on a food source they become, the more likely they are to frequent residential areas and cause property damage to get these unnatural food sources.
Bears are very intelligent animals that can be attracted into residential and other human-occupied areas. Over time, they become "habituated," and gradually lose their fear of humans. These bears will usually return more frequently and tend to become bolder around people.
Once bears find an area that has food they will continue to forage in the area until the food source is removed. It takes some time (up to several weeks) even after preventative methods have been implemented before the persistent bear will understand that the food source is no longer available.
Preventing access to food is the most important thing you can do to keep bears wild and out of your neighborhood. The more a bear becomes dependent on unnatural foods, the less likely its chances of survival. Once bears lose their fear of people, there is often little hope to make the bear wild again. These habituated and food conditioned bears are often killed, either by vehicle collisions, illegal shooting, or as a result of bear management actions to keep the community safe.
People ask why problem bears can't simply be relocated to a "wilderness area where they won't bother anyone." Unfortunately, areas that are large and remote enough to move bears where they won't encounter people are rare in Florida.
Relocated bears typically leave the new area, either to return to their original home or to leave an area already occupied by other bears. Some bears will wander through unfamiliar areas and cross busy roads, creating a danger to the bear and to motorists. Bears that do remain in the relocation area often exhibit the same problem behavior, which just shifts the problem to a new community. As a result, relocation is not an effective solution to bear conflicts.
Wildlife biologists can provide free technical advice to residents who live in bear country to help them take actions that will discourage the bears from becoming a problem in the first place. The FWC is committed to ensuring the long-term wellbeing of the black bear while addressing property damage and safety concerns of residents and visitors to our state.
It is easy to live in harmony with bears and save their lives by simply securing the temptation of trash and other attractants. If a bear is in your yard, make sure that (1) you are in a safe area, and (2) the bear has a clear escape route, then (3) scare the bear, (4) Install a motion-activated device such as a water sprinkler or light or audio alarm. Click SCARE THAT BEAR for some ideas. For more information on living in bear territory click the link below.
A bear going through somebody's trash cans. Reports keep coming in of trash being strewn all over the street. To prevent this, put the trash out the morning of pickup so bears don't think of your yard as a food source.
Someone caught this one climbing a fence.
A Florida black bear caught off guard in south Florida terrain.
Two Florida bears peering down from a tree.
Two Florida black bear cubs.
Someone captured a bear running across the street in a populated area of Naples. Below, bear lying down.
