If you want to keep black bears out of your neighborhood, then you have to secure your garbage so bears can’t get to it.
That was the primary advice given to the Franklin County Commission on Tuesday by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Florida is home to an estimated 6000 black bears which cover a large portion of the state, with about 1000 in Franklin and surrounding counties.
With more bears, there is a much greater chance of human/bear interaction and also a greater need for people to act responsibly.
Bears can get all of the food they need from the woods, but they will go anywhere where food is easily available.
Garbage cans, pet food and dirty grills are some of their favorite spots.
State officials get well over 100 calls a year in Franklin County about bears and about a quarter of the calls are about bears in residential garbage.
The primary response to those calls is to tell the person to secure their trash.
If that doesn’t work, then the bear is either captured and moved or it is killed.
The problem is that removing or killing the bear does not solve the problem – there is always another bear to take its place.
But securing trash does fix the problem, studies done in Florida have shown between a 55 and 95 percent drop in bear related calls when household garbage is secured.
Bear resistant trash cans should be available through your trash company, and if not, there are kits that can make most trash cans bear resistant.
https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/wildlife/bear/managing/
That was the primary advice given to the Franklin County Commission on Tuesday by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Florida is home to an estimated 6000 black bears which cover a large portion of the state, with about 1000 in Franklin and surrounding counties.
With more bears, there is a much greater chance of human/bear interaction and also a greater need for people to act responsibly.
Bears can get all of the food they need from the woods, but they will go anywhere where food is easily available.
Garbage cans, pet food and dirty grills are some of their favorite spots.
State officials get well over 100 calls a year in Franklin County about bears and about a quarter of the calls are about bears in residential garbage.
The primary response to those calls is to tell the person to secure their trash.
If that doesn’t work, then the bear is either captured and moved or it is killed.
The problem is that removing or killing the bear does not solve the problem – there is always another bear to take its place.
But securing trash does fix the problem, studies done in Florida have shown between a 55 and 95 percent drop in bear related calls when household garbage is secured.
Bear resistant trash cans should be available through your trash company, and if not, there are kits that can make most trash cans bear resistant.
https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/wildlife/bear/managing/
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