- November 17, 2024
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Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission bear expert Alyssa Simmons still sometimes gets the willies when she sets the bear traps at dusk.
“Hey, Bear. Heyyyyy, Bear,” she calls out to warn any curious ones nearby of her presence.
It’s a technique that, at a free lecture called “Become Bear Aware” at the Palm Coast Community Center Saturday, March 14, Simmons suggested Palm Coast residents use when they’re out on hikes in the woods.
A few decades ago in Florida, such precautions would hardly be needed. But Florida’s black bears are making a comeback: A species that was counted at about 300 statewide in the 1970s, she said, is up to more than 3,000. That means more a greater likelihood that Flagler County residents will see bears in the woods behind their homes, in their backyards, on hikes, or, if they’re not careful, rummaging through their trash.
Renewed construction post-recession, she said, is also driving bears into contact with people.
“The economy seems to have recovered, we’re back to building a lot of things again… and we are seeing a lot of bear movement, even in this time of year when we don’t usually see a lot of bear movement,” she said.
Some of the lecture attendees had seen them recently.
K-section resident Krystal Johnson was out dirt biking with her sister and daughter less than two weeks ago, she said, when she surprised one.
“The bear was definitely bigger than I am. It looked like an adult to me,” Johnson said. “It ran straight up a tree when I came through on the dirt bike.”
Deterrents
Such forest encounters may unavoidable, Simmons said, but homeowners can avoid attracting bears to their properties by putting their trash out on the morning of pickup instead of the night before, not keeping birdfeeders stocked in fall — when bears are trying to pack on calories to sustain them through winter — and, in rural areas where people keep animals and feed outside, installing electric fences around a property’s border.
Bears also don’t like loud noises, especially if they’re unfamiliar. If pots and pans aren’t enough to scare off one that’s lingering in your driveway or yard, Simmons said, try using the panic button on your car keys.
For hikers who’d like an option other than talking loudly, Simmons said, a whistle can serve as a warning, as can a miniature air horn.
If one attacks, she said, a gun isn’t much use.
“I don’t know too many people who can stop a bear in its tracks with one shot,” she said. “And that’s all the time you’re going to have.”
Bear spray — which sprays out 20-30 feet, but can deter bears from much further away — is a better bet, she said.
“It stops a bear 92% of the time, I think it was, versus a gun, which was less than 20%. So this is a highly effective way of stopping a bear,” she said. “It’s like kryptonite.”
More scared of you
But overall, Simmons said, Florida black bears aren’t aggressive creatures, and females are particularly skittish.
“The fight or flight — they’re a flight bear,” she said. “When you see them in the woods, they’re gone. They’d rather not be around us.” Mother bears with newborns are so wary, she said, that researchers “can walk up and shoo the female away from the den,” then handle the newborn cubs while the mother waits until the researchers are gone to return. As cubs age, she said, mother bears become more aggressively protective of their young
And although Florida’s black bears, unlike their cousins, the grizzlies and polar bears, aren’t big meat-eaters — about 80% of their diet is vegetarian — leaving food or trash out can draw bears into neighborhoods, where they become dangerously accustomed to humans.
It doesn’t take much to catch a bear’s nose: It might be an open dumpster, a trash can left out overnight, or pet food kept in an open garage or in a screen enclosure.
“Their sense of smell surpasses any mammal on earth,” Simmons said. “They can smell 10 miles away,” an olfactory feat that far outstrips those performed by even the keenest scent hounds.
In one instance, a black bear busted into a Florida woman’s screen enclosure and guzzled a bunch of CapriSun fruit drinks, then took out about six or seven such enclosures a week, looking for more, until it happened on a stash of beer, which seemed to slow it down for awhile.
That kind of bear can become a hazard, and the FWC kills nuisance bears it considers a threat to people.
“Keep the bears wild, don’t let them in your trash or feeders,” Simmons said. “Don’t give them the motivation to stay and become a — Oh gosh, this is going to sound really corny — ‘neigh-bear.’”
Simmons suggested residents know the warning signs that a bear is uncomfortable — “jaw popping” (clacking its teeth together), huffing, stomping the ground, bluff charging, pinning its ears back against its head — but leave, if possible, before a bear begins to show them.
“I always tell people: If you see a bear, and you haven’t pushed it to that point, it’s a good time to leave,” she said. “Because you don’t want to push it to that point.”
BEAR BASICS:
• Male bears are called boars.
• Female bears are called sows.
• Adult male Florida black bears are usually 250-450 pounds.
• Adult female Florida black bears are usually 130-180 pounds.
• The largest Florida black bear on record was a 740-pound male captured in the Jacksonville area in January.
• Cubs can be distinguished from grown bears by their outsized “Mickey Mouse” ears, which are much larger in proportion to their head than an adult’s.
• Florida black bears can run at about 30 mph.
IF YOU SEE A BLACK BEAR:
• Don’t run or play dead. Stand upright.
• Talk loudly and calmly.
• Slowly back away.
• Don’t look the bear in the eye.
• Don’t climb a tree. The bear can climb it faster.
