Fall is finally here, and the change in season is sending Florida Black Bears a message, loud and clear: “eat up while the getting’s good!”
It’s important to the safety of bears and people that they avoid communities and stick to their natural diet of fruit, nuts and acorns.
There’s a great variety of nuts, fruits and seeds in the Florida countryside for bears to snack on (lots of acorns, not to mention the occasional treat of honey and larvae from beehives). But bears instinctively look for the greatest calorie reward for the least effort, at this time of year especially. Unfortunately, in suburban areas that often means pet food and trash.
Fortunately, there’s a great opportunity to learn how to bear-proof your property in Florida this weekend. The Forgotten Coast Black Bear Festival is coming to Carrabelle, Florida on October 6, and will hold workshops on living with bears, along with presentations by bear experts and guided hikes with a bear biologist. There are plenty of fun activities for kids and families too: live music, vendors and exhibits, and a Procession of the Species Parade! Click here to learn more. You can also see some examples of ways to bear-proof your property here.
Making sure we don’t leave items out around our homes that attract bears helps keep both bears and people safe and assures bears are foraging on their natural wild foods. Bear-proofing is a community effort, since just one home with unsecured trash can create risk for the rest of the neighborhood. That’s why festivals and events like the Forgotten Coast Black Bear Festival are important: they bring people together to learn about, as well as celebrate, the unique wildlife they share their state with.
Learn more about what Defenders is doing to help wildlife and people coexist.
The Florida black bear was removed from the Florida state endangered species list on Friday, a step forward in the recovery of this unique animal.
A subspecies of the American black bear, the Florida black bear population dropped to 300-500 individuals in the 1940s and 50s due to habitat loss, development and excessive hunting. But thanks to improved land management and a serious recovery effort over the past few decades, the population has recovered to between 2,500 and 3,000 bears in total in the state of Florida.
The Florida black bear’s removal from the Florida state endangered species list is a sign that recovery efforts for the species are working.
Florida black bears exist in several sub-populations in the state, with 1,000 bears in the largest population and 20 or so in the smallest. The smaller, isolated sub-populations are a concern as habitat fragmentation and development increases in Florida. These bears are wide-ranging animals that travel far to find food, shelter, and mates. That’s why wildlife corridors-natural pathways that link bear habitat areas- are essential to bear conservation.
Defenders of Wildlife established a Florida black bear conservation initiative in 1994 with the Habitat for Bears Campaign, and has since worked with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on long-term plans for managing and connecting bear habitat throughout the state.
While delisting is a marker of success, the species still needs careful stewardship to ensure that it keeps thriving. As development increases, so do conflicts between bears and communities. Public education about bear-proofing trash cans and preventing dangerous encounters is vital to the safety of bears, people and pets. Continued conservation measures are also needed to ensure the smaller bear sub-populations grow to a sustainable size.
The Florida black bear still has a ways to go before we can say that its recovery is complete, but the delisting is a great sign that this species is on its way. Defenders of Wildlife is proud to have made a significant contribution to the recovery effort for this special bear.
One man’s trash is a Florida black bear’s treasure. And unless you take action to keep your garbage out of reach, you could play host to one of these furry foragers over and over again. Fortunately, Defenders is on the job. As part of our efforts to help Sunshine State residents live safely in bear country, we provide support for placing bear-proof dumpsters in locations around the state. Watch this video to learn more about our dumpster project in De Leon Springs State Park–and the instant results it saw–from Defenders’ Laurie Macdonald and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Mike Orlando.
Photo courtesy Allen Loyd.
13th Annual Black Bear Festival a Success
Last month, Defenders staff and our 12 volunteers were proud to host the 13th Annual Black Bear Festival in Umatilla, Florida, the “Gateway to the Ocala National Forest” and prime black bear country. With live music, good food, arts and crafts and field trips to the Ocala National Forest and Black Bear Scenic Highway, it was a day of family fun but also education for the nearly three thousand Sunshine State residents who attended on how to live peacefully alongside a rebounding bear population. To the right, Defenders’ Shannon Miller demonstrates how to build a livestock enclosure to help protect hobby livestock and pets from predators such as black bears.
Bears Get Love in Alaska, Too!
Since many of Alaska’s bears emerge from dens in early spring, April was the ideal time for Governor Sean to declare “Bear Awareness Month” throughout the Last Frontier. The move is an effort to “encourage all Alaskans to educate themselves on the importance of awareness and safety issues surrounding Alaska’s bears and wildlife, thereby helping to ensure the future of our Alaskan wildlife heritage.”
Adopt a Black Bear to Save Real Animals in the Wild
Black bear adoptions are a great way to share your appreciation for this keystone species while helping to support Defenders’ work on their behalf.
I relish the opportunity to get out and experience firsthand the places—and wildlife—that we at Defenders work so hard to protect. To spend a day exploring the habitat of panthers and bears, butterflies and salamanders, pines, palms and orchids, is truly a delight, and I know that not everyone is so lucky to have a job that combines their passion and their profession.
This month my work allowed me to join environmental photojournalist Carlton Ward Jr, bear biologist Joe Guthrie, filmmaker Elam Stoltzfuz, and refuge complex superintendent Kevin Godsea for a hike through the uplands and swamps of the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge. The 11 miles we trekked were just a small part of the 100-day, 1000-mile journey the men are taking through some of the state’s most wild places on what they call the Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition.
The expedition is an effort to increase public awareness and generate support for establishing a Florida wildlife corridor that would protect and restore connected landscapes throughout the Florida Peninsula in order to create a viable link from the Everglades to Georgia. Such a corridor is critical for Florida wildlife like black bears and panthers, which need lots of room to roam. Unfortunately, that amount of land is no short order in an ever-developing Sunshine State, and the challenges involved are many. The good news is that many landowners are interested in maintaining their ranches in ways that also provide valuable wildlife habitat; the expedition hopes to increase awareness and support of ways to do so.
A migration corridor is critical for Florida's wide-ranging black bears.
The expedition began on January 17 in Everglades National Park, and will take the travelers north through the state of Florida, ending in Georgia, just across the Florida border, at the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. Defenders supports this bold adventure as it inspires citizens and visitors to join all of us who are working to save the state’s native wildlife and the network of habitat they and we depend upon. Check out my footage from my incredible day on the trail and learn more about how you can follow the crew along their journey!
In March, Laurie and the rest Defenders’ Florida staff will welcome the crew of the Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition to the annual Florida Black Bear Festival in Umatilla. Stay tuned for details about the festival and the opportunity to hear from the trekkers themselves!
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BRISTOL, Fla. – The state’s black bear management plan was the topic of discussion Tuesday night at a public workshop here. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says Florida black bear numbers have increased and the bear should no longer be on the state’s list of threatened species.
Laurie Macdonald, director of Defenders of Wildlife’s Florida program, says her group is celebrating the bear’s progress, but she notes that several isolated sub-populations are struggling and facing issues such as inbreeding. She thinks the plan should do more to protect them.
Unless the state creates habitat links between the small black bear sub-populations, she says, they face extinction threats, shrinking the overall gene pool and undoing their progress. She adds that any plan will take cooperation from the public and other state agencies which oversee public lands and enforce laws.
Ensuring that bear populations are not affected by development, Macdonald says, means identifying lands that could be used as habitat to link the bears rather than separating them.
“We want to be sure that populations are not isolated and that they remain very healthy in their connection with the other subpopulations of bears.”
Defenders' Florida director Laurie Macdonald
Macdonald believes another key to bear survival in Florida is preventing human-bear conflict by education and enforcing laws that deter people from feeding bears.
“But if they continue to do it – they know what’s right and they’re not doing it, they’re doing what’s wrong – and they’re causing a bear to be a bad bear, then law enforcement needs to step in and prosecute.”
Defenders of Wildlife says intentional and unintentional feeding and not enforcing the law can result in bears damaging property, which often results in the death of the bear.
Information on the draft bear management plan and the three remaining workshops are online at myfwc.com. The next workshop is Nov. 29 in Naples.
Next week is Bear Awareness Week, but this year we’re kicking it off a little early. Because no one needs to be more Bear Aware than Stephen Colbert! If you’re a fan of the Comedy Central late-night star, you know Mr. ColBEAR has really got it in for bears—these magnificent animals regularly appear on his recurring segment, ThreatDown! (See video at right for a small sampling of his “attacks.”)
Of course, we all know Stephen is joking so we’ve decided to play along. Amid the BEAR-rel of laughs, our goal is to get out the very serious message about the importance of bear conservation.
Help Stop Stephen Colbert’s War on Bears
Once you start the video, you can mouse over the player to scroll between Ed and Cloris’ videos.
For this lighthearted campaign, we’ve enlisted our friends, entertainment legends Ed Asner and Cloris Leachman, to call out Stephen for his “extreme anti-bear rhetoric.” Check out their own tongue-in-cheek videos at right. (Note that the language can be a little salty, so may not be appropriate for young wildlife supporters.)
To really make this campaign successful, we need to get Stephen’s attention and this is where YOU can show your support for bears.
Sign the petition. Urge Stephen Colbert to designate May 19th as “Better Know a Bear Day” on The Colbert Report.
Send a bear to Stephen. Make a tax-deductible donation of $30 or more to support our wildlife-saving work and we’ll send a plush bear to Stephen on your behalf. (If he won’t listen to our words, he may just take notice of 1,000 bears showing up at his New York studio!)
Let’s all send a message to Stephen to put aside his irrational fear of bears and give these important animals the respect they deserve!
Stay Informed
Visit www.defenders.org/bears to find out more about the real threats facing America’s bears today, what Defenders is doing to help protect them—and what you can do to help.
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