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A good vote for Florida's bears

 
Published June 23, 2016

A black bear wandered into a suburban Tampa neighborhood this week before it was tranquilized and returned to its home in the woods, where it will be safe from humans at least until next year thanks to a wise decision Wednesday night by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. It voted to delay another hunt to no sooner than 2017.

The 250-pound male Florida black bear had been spotted in Terrace Park, not far from Busch Gardens. Law enforcement and wildlife officials responded and eventually fired two shots from a tranquilizer gun at the bear, which had taken refuge in a tree in someone's yard. Its next destination: the Ocala National Forest, where it belongs.

Florida has a growing problem with nuisance bears leaving their ever-shrinking habitats, entering civilization — often newer suburbs pushing closer to wilderness — and coming into unwelcome contact with humans. Bear attacks are on the rise, along with complaints of property damage.

The commission's baffling response last year was to approve the state's first bear hunt in 21 years. Officials reasoned that the growing bear population needs to be culled even as they acknowledged that the hunt would have no impact on preventing future attacks. The weeklong hunt was quickly eclipsed when hunters bagged a startling 304 bears in just two days. It had gone forward despite overwhelming public opposition, which only intensified when it was revealed that 36 of the hunted bears were lactating females that left behind orphaned cubs.

As expected, the slaughter did nothing to curb the problem of human contact. Nuisance bears in the suburbs weren't the ones being hunted. Bears deep in the woods, where they were bothering no one, ended up in the hunters' cross hairs. Commissioners on Wednesday made a better decision, setting a moratorium on bear hunting until the situation is more completely understood and the actual science can be considered fully.

The bear that stumbled into Tampa embodies the hope of a better bear policy for Florida: one where a bear will be at least as safe at home in the woods as it was in someone's backyard tree in suburbia.