Chilly weather puts bears on the move

Chilly weather has Florida’s black bears on the move as they forage to fatten up for winter.

But as the bears become more mobile, state officials look to manage their interaction with humans and protect them and their habitat.

To find food to satiate the 20,000 daily calories bears need to endure winter, they must remain on the move, often bringing them in contact with people as they look for food.

That contact, especially among females who are pregnant and typically give birth in January, can mean more human-dependent bears as they get their food from people in one way or another.

“Our feeding bears actually creates more bears,” said Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission bear biologist Sarah Barrett, who noted that females can fatten up quicker with artificial food sources and do as they anticipate cubs.

“Generally, October and November are our busiest months for bear activity,” Barrett said. “They begin using more of their range to find enough food and they come across neighborhoods with unsecure attractants and landscaping plants bearing fruit.”

Feeding bears, either intentionally or inadvertently, desensitizes them to human interaction with varying consequences.

A bear bit a Lake Mary woman near her home Dec. 3 leaving her with minor injuries. FWC officials killed seven bears after an attack in April in a neighborhood just west of where this month’s attack occurred.

Residents there told local media that sightings of bears are common during all hours of the day.

The FWC has received 6,145 calls for service regarding bears this year, down by 54 since last year. That number, however, has increased since 2011, when calls spiked by over 2,000 in 2012.

The agency has euthanized 30 bears this year for nuisance behavior, but roadway crashes account for 90 percent of bear deaths in the state. This year 134 bears have been killed on Florida roads.

Communities statewide, including Leon, Wakulla and Franklin counties, now offer bear-resistant trash cans in an effort to reduce the available food source.

Waste Pro will provide the cans by request for an additional $8 a month, and FWC offers a grant to offset the first three months of the fee.

This year the FWC has worked in communities throughout the state to create a long-term management program to analyze why people and bears are coming into contact and then develop solutions to limit their exposure and maintain bear habitat.

The final meetings were held in Homosassa Springs and Dade City earlier this month. Stakeholder committees were created in each of the FWC management units that will meet a few times a year to help develop 10-year management plans tailored to their area of the state, Barrett said.

“People within these areas may view their bear population differently,” she said. “The things they want to discuss and are important to them may not apply in other areas.”

The bear management plan will again be addressed in 2022.

The FWC also hopes to update the population count of black bears in the state by 2016. The previous count was done more than a decade ago.

By 2002 numbers, FWC biologists estimate there are as many as 2,941 black bears throughout the state, which has seven subpopulations across 17.1 million acres of potential habitat.

The Western Panhandle region, which includes Apalachicola National Forest’s population — one of the largest in the state — has an estimated 700 bears.

Barrett said the one thing she has noticed in the public meetings is that people really take an interest in the welfare of bears and want to find a way minimize risks to both humans and animals.

“They see all the different sides of it and that people have a role in bear management, not just FWC and not just bears,” Barrett said. “They can have an impact on the species.”