Living with Florida Black Bears Transcript _________________________________________
Did you know that your chances of encountering a Florida black bear are greater today than
anytime in the past one hundred years? Yes, it is true. So it is never been more important
for you to know how to share Florida's changing landscape with this amazing animal.
Despite historic population declines from human development and unregulated hunting,
Florida's black bear population is rebounding across much of the state.
We have between 2500 and 3000 bears living in Florida in eight different populations.
The largest population is over a thousand bears living in and around Ocala National
Forest.
These large tracts of heavily forested lands offer a diversity of nut- and fruit-producing
trees and plants. And despite its close proximity to Orlando, the area from the Wekiva River
Basin north to Putnam County provides ideal habitat for bears. Another notable population
is located in the Apalachicola National Forest and Tate's Hell State Forest areas located
between Tallahassee and Panama City. New DNA sampling techniques using bear hair make it
much easier for biologists to generate estimates for black bear numbers in different regions.
We set up barbed wire corrals and in the middle of those corrals we have bait so the bears
have a reason to come in and out of those corrals. When they enter, they leave some
hair behind, and when they exit, they leave some hair behind. And all we have to do is
take that hair and analyze it. And just like a person's fingerprint, it?s uniquely individual
for that bear. And so we can tell how many bears are in the area and the bear is none
the wiser.
Other bear populations are located in the Big Cypress National Preserve area in Southern
Florida, the Eglin Air Force Base area east of Pensacola, the Osceola National Forest
area west of Jacksonville, and the St. Johns River area near St. Augustine. The two smallest
bear populations are in the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge area and a portion
of Glades and Highlands counties. Both of those areas are highly fragmented and lack
the large contiguous tracts of land that bears typically need to avoid the hazards of living
in a human-dominated landscape.
The biggest threat to black bears in Florida is one of a loss of habitat, just as it is
for large mammals wherever they occur. And in Florida, with a rapidly growing state with
18 million people and all those people need, you know, have needs for places to live, work,
shop, drive. And we estimate there's only 17 percent of the former range left in the
state. And as Florida becomes more and more human-dominated, the patches of natural habitat
become smaller and smaller and the risk to bears to access them becomes greater as having
to traverse a human-dominated landscape, roads, and coming in contact with people increases
their risk.
Florida black bears are adaptable to a variety of forested habitats.
Bears are opportunistic animals. They like a lot of different types of habitat, but mostly
it is forest. Primary bear habitat includes bottomland and upland hardwoods, mixed forest,
scrub, flatwoods, and swamps. The ideal bear habitat has a mixture of these types that
allow bears to access them with different parts of the year and different parts of the
seasons. Bears can actually be found almost anywhere in Florida because they wander far
and wide in search of food and mates, and that includes downtown Orlando in some cases.
Florida black bears need large areas to survive. Depending on the quality of available habitat,
average home ranges for adult male bears are between 50 and 120 square miles, while homes
ranges for adult females are usually between 11 and 25 square miles. Contrary to popular
belief, Florida black bears eat very little meat.
In fact, 80 percent of a bear's diet in Florida tends to be vegetation. That includes fruits,
nuts, berries, and fiber from plants. The other 15 percent would be from insects. And
that?s bees, ants, wasps, and beetles. And then really only 5 percent would be small
animals, like opossum and armadillo, and also eggs from birds, turtles, or alligators.
A bear's diet varies seasonally. However, all year round saw palmetto is an extremely
important element of the bear?s diet. They eat the berries but also the fiber from the
plant itself.
One big difference between Florida black bears and their northern cousins is their winter
denning behavior. Even though Florida lies within southerly latitudes, black bears here
still den in winter but for shorter periods of time. Pregnant females must den in winter
to give birth to their cubs. They enter dens in December and emerge with an average of
two newborn cubs in April. Other females and males only den for brief periods through the
winter. Their dens are typically ground nests in dense thickets and under blow-downs or
fallen branches. So seasonally, there?s less chance of seeing a bear in the winter.
A bear's activity schedule is very similar to some other animals. They are called crepuscular,
which means they are active most at dawn and dusk. And in the middle of the day and in
the middle of the night, they are relatively inactive. However, this changes seasonally.
During the fall, bears can be actively searching for food almost 18 hours a day. Also, we have
found in Florida that bears that live in the urban-wildland interface actually become more
nocturnal. And that coincides with a drop in human activity in the areas that they live.
Though their population is rebounding, the Florida black bear remains a protected species,
both in the eyes of responsible citizens and the law.
Everyone might not know this, but a black bear is considered a threatened species in
the state of Florida. Therefore, it's illegal to kill them. If someone were to kill a black
bear, it is a third degree felony. Now, that carries a penalty of up to five years in prison
and/or a $5000 fine. In addition, if the person?s adjudicated guilty, this would be on their
criminal record forever.
Florida bears are relatively free of life-threatening diseases or parasites. And aside from humans
and other bears, they have few natural predators.
So despite how big and powerful bears seem, they do still die. And the vast majority of
the recorded deaths of bears in Florida is caused by vehicle collisions.
Florida black bears need to eat a year?s worth of food in eight months in preparation for
winter dormancy. And it is the bear's unquenchable appetite that causes problems when living
near easy-to-get human sources of food. Some obvious human food sources include pet and
livestock feed. But one not-so-obvious food is accessible garbage, which bears tear into
with relish.
The problem is that when people are out in areas where wildlife exists as well, there's
a food issue. And when people don't secure the food properly or they offer food to wildlife,
it creates conflicts with that wildlife and in this case, also with bears.
It is much easier for bears to get their calories from rich human food sources, garbage, pet
foods, and birdfeeders, than from natural foods in the wild. That's why the feeding
of bears, whether intended or not, is the number one source of human-bear conflict.
A lot of people would not think about something as simple as placing their garbage out for
pickup could possibly be feeding black bears. Now, this would be an unintentional act, obviously,
at first, but if it was determined that this action was becoming an attractant to the bears,
therefore they were actually eating the garbage, then that would become an intentional act.
So we encourage people to think about these things as well, not just someone who would
intentionally be placing out food, say, in a dog dish in their backyard to attract or
feed a black bear. Both of these examples would be considered illegal. Feeding a black
bear is not only illegal, but it is the wrong thing to do.
When you see a raccoon in your yard getting into your garbage or birdfeed or pet food,
you are looking at a gateway species to bear problems. If you have that attractant in your
yard and you have bears in the area, you are likely going to have bear problems as well.
And the real problem for the bears is that associating food with human beings causes
them to lose their fear, they become habituated, and the ultimate tragedy here is these bears
end up being killed. But the good news is this tragedy is very preventable. The solution
to not having problems with bears is securing the food sources, and it really is that simple.
Be it dumpsters or household garbage or pet food or birdseed, if it is secured where bears
cannot get to it, then we don't have a problem.
As more citizens and agencies become familiar working with FWC on preventing bear conflicts,
the more successes they record for communities and the bears.
We were having some problems with the bears visiting the park here in Salt Springs. I
called FWC basically because I was concerned for people's safety, not only the residents
but the campers that visit the park. After calling them, they gave us many options. One
that seemed to work for us was the bear-proof dumpsters. Once we learned how to operate
those properly and make sure that they were locked when they needed to be, it has helped
quite tremendously. But we feel like this is a great start and it will be a win-win
situation, not only for us and FWC but for the bears also.
Besides using bear-proof garbage containers, FWC also helps educate people about other
proven bear deterrents.
We learned a long time ago that electric fences are really effective in securing beehives.
Now we have expanded that into securing garbage and livestock and any other attractants you
think you have in your yard. Here in Florida, it is really turned into a silver bullet for
deterring bears.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission manages black bears for their long-term
survival and the benefit of people. Protecting enough of the right kind of habitat is the
most important thing we can do for bears in Florida.
The benefit we realize from conserving bears and conserving bear habitat is that bears
are known as an umbrella species. When we preserve the habitat for bears, we are also
preserving the habitat for a myriad number of other species, deer, turkey, songbirds,
reptiles, as well as for people to recreate in. So it benefits a large number of species.
Recent predictions indicate our state's human population may double in the next 50 years.
If that happens, about 7 million acres of land, or about the size of the state of Vermont,
could be converted from natural areas to urban uses. As more wild lands are lost to suburban
and urban uses and bears adapt to areas frequented by humans, bear managers must find ways to
balance fear with knowledge and acceptance of bears in the landscape.
Our wildlife resources are priceless and in order to keep them for our enjoyment, our
children?s enjoyment, our grandchildren?s enjoyment, we have to learn to tolerate them
existing in the same space with us.
Here in Florida, one of our biggest challenges with an expanding human population and increasing
bear population is we need the partnership with local communities and homeowner's associations
to not only educate the public but influence policies so we can responsibly share the land
with bears.
One of the keys to meeting these challenges is helping citizens like you understand the
habits of black bears and what you can do to minimize conflicts with these remarkable
animals.
The solution is so simple. Just do not intentionally feed bears or unintentionally feed bears by
leaving garbage, pet food, or birdseed outside where bears can get to it. But do not stop
there. This is an important message. Share it with your family, your friends, your neighbors,
your community so that we can all learn to coexisit with bears.
To learn more about living and recreating in Florida bear country, go to the Florida
Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's black bear web site at MyFWC.com/bear.