| Radio programs for the week of 7 August 2000 (fe00807 - fe00811) | For more
information: The Florida Black Bear - Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
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A Black Bear Ambassador I'm Kevin Pierce with the Florida Environment. State wildlife officials call Florida's black bear a wildlife ambassador, because when a natural tract of land is large enough for a bear, it also suits dozens of other species. But as Florida fills with human population, those large pieces of land shrink. And, says wildlife educator Judy Gillan, so does the number of bears (Judy Gillan, Education Coordinator, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission)... "We've gone from about 12,000 bears around the turn of the century to about 2,000 roaming the state today." Biologist Walter McCown says while Black Bear used to roam from one end of the state to another, they're now concentrated in a half dozen areas (Walter McCown, Biological Scientist, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission)... "The Eglin Air Force Base in Appilachicola, the Osceola and Okefenokee populations in northern Florida, the Ocala population and the St. John's population in central Florida and the Big Cypress population in southwestern Florida." Those bear populations are virtual islands. At least for the most part (McCown)... "I know that we did collar one animal in the Big Cypress region that wandered and found his way up to the Glades-Highlands population. And occasionally we have road kills in areas that are in between populations, so it may occur, but it's on a very small scale." For more information, visit floridaenvironment.com. With help from its Environmental Studies Program, we're produced at the Whitaker Center at Florida Gulf Coast University and funded by the Southwest Florida Council for Environment Education. |
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 fe00808Bears: Shy and lazy I'm Kevin Pierce with the Florida Environment. If the thought of bears in Florida makes you worry about a rampaging, man-eating grizzly, think again. The Florida Black Bear is a much smaller, much less aggressive, and, for the most part, a plant-eating creature. And while you might have never seen a bear in Florida before, the odds of sighting are improving, says wildlife educator Judy Gillan (Judy Gillan, Education Coordinator, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission)... "When you start having such large scale development like we've had in Florida, you start seeing more bears. So people are actually living in bear habitat, and when the see a bear they do get afraid. But they don't need to be." They don't need to be, says Gillan, because there's no record of a human being killed by a Florida Black Bear... "When you do see them, their primary instinct is to get out of Dodge. They leave right away." They leave, and head deeper into their diminishing forest habitat... "Usually, the Florida Black Bear is a very shy, secretive and often lazy kind of animal. They love to eat but their primary diet is seeds, nuts, berries... vegetation. So with 80 percent of their diet being that, you usually don't see them, they're out in the woods." For more information, visit floridaenvironment.com. With help from its Environmental Studies Program, we're produced at the Whitaker Center at Florida Gulf Coast University and funded by the Southwest Florida Council for Environment Education. |
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| fe00809 Bears and humans in the mix I'm Kevin Pierce with the Florida Environment. In a rare occurrence, a Florida Black Bear has been regularly killing livestock -- goats -- near the town of Umatilla, Florida. And while that behavior is well within natural boundaries for a Florida Black Bear, state biologist Walter McCown says it's not often seen (Walter McCown, Biological Scientist, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission)... "Fortunately it's a little bit unusual, but it's not abnormal for bears to take livestock, particularly if they're very easy to catch." Easy to catch and easy to access as human enterprise moves into bear territory. Wildlife educator Judy Gillan warns people to expect more bear interaction (Judy Gillan, Education Coordinator, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission)... "...showing up in backyards, climbing into trees, killing livestock. Although meat is a very small portion of their diet, they do still do it. And this causes people to become very concerned." It all boils down to increasing population. On both sides (McCown)... "We live in a state with an increasing human population that's currently around 14 million. Our indications are that the Black Bear population is increasing, although not as rapid. These types of interactions between humans and bears are likely to become more frequent." For more information, visit floridaenvironment.com. With help from its Environmental Studies Program, we're produced at the Whitaker Center at Florida Gulf Coast University and funded by the Southwest Florida Council for Environment Education. |
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| fe00810 Roads: Not a Bear's best friend I'm Kevin Pierce with the Florida Environment. As Florida's human population continues to grow, Florida Black Bears are forced into smaller and smaller habitats. And it's not necessarily houses taking their land. Sometimes a large bear habitat can be rendered unusable by a road. Wildlife educator Judy Gillan (Judy Gillan, Education Coordinator, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission)... "Roads have become a problem for bears. Not only in terms of direct mortality by being hit by cars, but also by fragmenting what remaining habitat they have." State Biologist Walter McCown says for Black Bears, that fragmenting can ruin otherwise perfect habitat (Walter McCown, Biological Scientist, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission)... "Even though there may be adequate and optimal habitat in an area, it's broken into such small pieces that the animal you may be looking at, will not use it." The result is more bears in smaller areas (Gillan)... "Bears are now kind of concetrated in places around the state, rather than ranging throughout it like they did a hundred years ago." And the smaller bear habitats bring other problems (Gillan)... "When there's such a small population and they're not bringing in other genes from other bears... from new bears, then you start to have other problems." For more information, visit floridaenvironment.com. With help from its Environmental Studies Program, we're produced at the Whitaker Center at Florida Gulf Coast University and funded by the Southwest Florida Council for Environment Education. |
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| fe00811 High tech bear counting I'm Kevin Pierce with the Florida Environment. State biologists estimate that there are about 2,000 Florida Black Bears. But they're working on developing a new estimate -- one based more on science -- to be able to track changes in the state's bear population (Walter McCown, Biological Scientist, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission)... "We're doing an old fashioned technique with some new age technology involved." Walter McCown is a biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission... We're capturing hair from bears as they come and go from a barbed wire corral that's baited. And as they come and go through this barbed wire, they leave little tufts of hair that we're analyzing and identifying individual bears through DNA analysis." The better count will help in protecting habitat for bear preservation. And wildlife educator Judy Gillan says helping bears, helps other wildlife, too (Judy Gillan, Education Coordinator, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission). "They range over large tracts of land. So there's lots of species like the Gopher Tortise, the Indigo Snake, different hawks... a number of diferent species that benefit from protection of the Florida Black Bear. So that's why we look at them as ambassadors." For more information, visit floridaenvironment.com. With help from its Environmental Studies Program, we're produced at the Whitaker Center at Florida Gulf Coast University and funded by the Southwest Florida Council for Environment Education. |
