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Florida Black Bear Research Paper

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In 1997, while bow hunting in the Ocala National Forest. I saw two large male bears eating grubs and one of them caught and begun to eat a Cotton Tail rabbit. They were approximately ½ mile from each other. It seemed like the very second that the bear with the rabbit tore it apart, I saw the other bear lift his nose to the air and was at a full run and was to the other bear within a minute. The first bear was bigger, but the second bear seemed to be hungrier and quickly took the remains of the rabbit away and out of sight. Thinking that it was a waste of time to remain in the area I returned to my jeep to head back to camp and get some lunch for myself. Upon reaching the logging road that lead to my jeep, I found large bear prints within my …show more content…

Prior to the late 1900s they roamed throughout Florida, over 53,000 square miles of land. From the Panhandle to the Keys, to the southern edges of our neighboring states. At that time an estimated twelve to twenty thousand black bears roamed throughout Florida.
Since then, between deforestation, unregulated hunting prior to 1950’s, habitat loss and habitat fragmentation, have resulted in the loss of a substantial portion of the Florida black bear population and 80% of its habitat. As a result, in 1974 the black bear was listed by the state of Florida as a threatened species in through-out the state with the exception of The Apalachicola National Forest and Baker and Columbia counties. At that time all hunting for Black Bears in the state of Florida was suspended until future notice.
In 1974 bear estimates were between 300 and 400 bears, in 2002 just eight years later with the help of Central Florida Farmers Association approximately 132,000 acres were set aside for bear habitation. Due to these and the efforts groups like TreeHuggerofAmerica, Defender.org and the FWC (Florida Wildlife Commission) the bear population started growing and growing and growing. From three to five hundred in 1974 to a little over three thousand in 2002. As of 2015 the current estimates are four thousand three hundred fifty bears and the amount of human / bear contact has

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