Biggest Florida Black Bear Ever Killed by FWC

The biggest Florida black bear on record was unfortunately trapped and killed Sunday in a Longwood neighborhood by the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), bringing to light issues of human-animal conflict.

Wildlife officials say the beast - weighing a whopping 740 pounds - had been roaming neighborhoods in Seminole County for more than a month before they decided in the interest of safety to take the bear out (first luring it into a trap, sedating it, and then euthanizing it off-site).

"We don't want to kill any animal, especially an impressive and majestic animal like that," FWC bear expert Mike Orlando told the Orlando Sentinel. "But public safety is paramount."

According to the agency, the Longwood bear likely ballooned beyond the 250-pound average for adult male black bears not just by eating the usual nuts and berries, but also by chowing down on the plethora of curbside garbage lying around.

The prior Florida record-holder was a 620-pound black bear caught in Paisley, Lake County in 2013.

Though you may think of black bears as cute and cuddly, they are still wild animals. What's more, populations of this once threatened species have been steadily increasing in the state over the last 10 years. Back in 1974 there were an estimated 3,000 Florida black bears, but now it is believed that those numbers have shot up, and with that, the chance of contact with humans has also increased.

In fact, the FWC's decision to kill this record-holding bear comes after a series of bear attacks in the Sunshine State. Two Seminole County women and a teenage girl in the Panhandle were mauled within the last 13 months, and one 68-year-old woman in Heathrow was injured after an encounter with a bear.

"We've tried everything else," said Thomas Eason, director of FWC's Division of Habitat & Species Conservation. "We've been lenient with bears. We've moved them. We've left them in neighborhoods. We've worked with people to, you know, say you need to do your part."

"We've just reached the point where we have so many bears and so many people interacting," he lamented.

Bear Hunts to Begin?

So reaching the end of their rope, wildlife commissioners plan to discuss at their upcoming meeting Feb. 4 different bear-management strategies, as well as the idea of hosting the first bear hunt in Florida since 1994.

"We're not proposing or thinking that hunting is going to directly affect attacks in suburban neighborhoods," Eason told the Tallahassee Democrat. "But hunting can help in managing the male populations."

Florida black bears were listed as threatened in 1974 after being brought back from near extinction in the early 1900s. They were only removed from the state endangered list in 2012. And while some think that four attacks in the last 18 months warrants bear hunts to keep their numbers in check, others think human encroachment into bear habitat is the real problem.

"We think there are better ways to address the human-bear interaction with negative outcomes," said David Cullen, a lobbyist for the Sierra Club conservation group. "We think that that can be done without reopening bear hunting in Florida."

According to the American Bear Association (ABA), black bears have lost over 60 percent of their historical range due to land development.

Adult male black bears weigh anywhere between 125 and 600 pounds, and females are usually smaller, though they can tip the scales at around 300 pounds. That's not to mention that these massive mammals can run up to 35 mph, so outrunning a black bear should you encounter one is not an option. In the unlikely event you find yourself face to face with a bear, the ABA recommends staying calm, avoiding eye contact and backing away slowly, making sure not to make the bear feel threatened, lest it attack.

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