Bears around St. Mary's Florida (near Orlando)

[DeLana]

You probably have listened to the national news about the black bear attacks this past weekend in central Florida outside of Orlando. The latest attack was close to an urban area in a gated community. After the attack, the wildlife people euthanized five bears close to the home where the attack occurred. This area is close to where Beach and I love to camp in the fall. It never occurred to me that there would be a lot of black bears that far south in Florida. However, the bears have just come out of hibernation, and their high metabolism just after hibernation is making them take significant risks to obtain food. Florida has some of the best campgrounds on the East coast, especially the state parks and private campgrounds reasonably close to Disney. If you are planning a trip to Disney or to the Orlando area this spring and camping, be aware of what is going on in your campground, especially if you are taking children. It seems the bears like to feed early in the morning and at dusk.

Dee

 

[sam-HILO]

Bears in the Orlando area

I saw this story on the National News. It was reported that part of the problem was due to quite a bit of forest cleared for houses and development. Take bear spray with you.

 

[DeLana]

Sorry folks. Previously, I think I had a senior moment! The bear attack was Lake Mary, Florida, not St. Marys.

Dee

 

[Wrascal]

AT last, justification for me to buy another rifle.
Sig 716?

 

[DeLana]

Sam, I agree. I think development is the problem. The gated community where this recent attack occurred backs up to a wildlife preserve with no buffer between the development and the preserve. As of Monday night, two more bears have been euthanized, bringing the total to 7 bears. The wildlife personnel stated that all of them exhibited abnormal behavior towards humans, i.e., did not have fear and did not run when loud and spontaneous noises were made by the wildlife people. Even gun shots in the air did not stop the bears from approaching the wildlife people. Two other bears were spotted in the community Monday night bringing the total number of bears to 9, but these bears ran when approached by wildlife people which is normal wildlife behavior. That behavior saved those bears lives. As I have said before, I think it odd that black bears would be so far south in Florida. We agree that development is the problem; however, I don't think the long term root cause is the immediate development in the Orlando area, but instead the heavy development that has started in northern Florida and it's panhandle and the foothills of southwestern Georgia. I believe this has caused the bears' migration south. As an example, in the last 15 years, I have noticed heavy migration of armadillos from the southwest US to the southeast; I had never seen one for real in my life (only pictures), wonder what caused that.

Dee