One big difference between Florida black bears and their northern cousins is their winter denning behaviour. Even though Florida lies within southerly latitudes,. Pregnant females must den in winter to give birth to their cubs. They enter dens in December and emerge with an average of two newborn cubs in April. Other females and males only den for brief periods through the winter. Their dens are typically ground nests in dense thickets and under blow-downs or fallen branches. So seasonally, there’s less chance of seeing a bear in the winter.

Thought their population is rebounding, the Florida black bear remains a protected species, both in the eyes of responsible citizens and the law. Florida bears are relatively free of life-threatening diseases or parasites. And aside from humans and other bears, they have few natural predators. Need to eat a year’s worth of food in eight months in preparation for winter dormancy. And it is the bear’s unquenchable appetite that causes problems when living near easy-to-get human source of food. Some obvious human food source include pet and livestock feed. But. One not-so-obvious food is accessible garbage. Which bears tear into with relish.

It is much easier for bears to get their calories from rich human food sources, garbage, pet, foods, and birdfeeders, than from natural foods in the wild. That’s why the feeding of bears, whether intended or not, is the number one source of human-bear conflict. As more citizens and agencies become familiar working with FWC on preventing bear conflicts, the more successes they record for communities and the bears. Besides using bear-proof garbage containers FWC also helps educate people about other proven bear deterrents. The Florida Fish and Wildlife conservation commission manages black bears for their long-term survival and the benefit of people. Protecting enough of the right kind of habitat is the most important thing we can do far bears in Florida. Recent predictions indicate our state’s human population may double in the next 50 years. If that happens, about 7 million acres of land, or about the size of the state of Vermont, could be converted from natural areas to urban uses. As more wild lands are lost to suburban and urban uses and bears adapt to areas frequented by humans, bear managers must find ways to balance fear with knowledge and acceptance of bears in the landscape. One of the keys to meeting these challenges is helping citizens like you understand the habits of black bears and what you can do to minimize conflicts with these remarkable animals.