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SIERRA COUNTY, Calif. — An elderly hunter from Oroville was apparently attacked and seriously mauled by a black bear in Sierra County, the state Department of Fish and Game said.
Mark Lucero of Fish and Game said someone shot the animal near Camptonville, causing the bear to come down from a tree and charge Orval Sanders, 83, of Oroville.

Lucero said the bear grabbed the Sanders while the man tried to protect himself. He suffered lacerations and his left wrist was broken from a bite.

After the bear attacked Sanders, he went after another hunter. That hunter shot the bear in the head and killed it.

Sanders was taken to Sutter Roseville Medical Center, where Fish and Game officials were interviewing him.

The six-person hunting party was using dogs at the time of the attack.

Fish and Game officials plan to retrieve the head the bear to test it for rabies. Officials said when there’s an interaction between a human and a wild animal, wardens investigate the case.

Bear hunting season begins in early October and lasts until the allotted number of bears is killed, Lucero said.

The hunting was legal, officials said.

Fish and Game said bear-hunting season is Sept. 26 through Nov. 1, or until the bear tags are used up. Officials said there are 1,700 issued for California, and 303 bears have been killed so far.

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A 78-year-old man was hospitalized Friday with injuries he received when he was attacked by a black bear in a remote area of eastern Utah.

The bear was shot and killed by another camper.

About 12:30 a.m., a river-rafting party of 13 people, including nine family members and four guides, were sleeping after finding a spot off the Green River near Rock Creek Ranch in Carbon County’s Desolation Canyon to stop for the night, said Brad Crompton, Division of Wildlife Resources’ southeastern region wildlife biologist. The family was awakened upon hearing the sound of a bear attacking a family member who had been sleeping on a cot, he said.

One of the victim’s daughters jumped on the bear and hit it with her fists, according to a statement from the DWR. After another family member joined in the struggle the bear let go of the man at which point the bear was shot in the back by one of the victim’s grandsons. The animal ran off and was found dead after sunrise.

The man’s torso was punctured and his arms scratched, the DWR said. A medical helicopter flew the man to a hospital about 4 a.m., and an airplane returned later in the morning to fly out the rest of the family.

“He seemed to be doing very well,” DWR spokesman Mark Hadley said of the latest update on the man’s condition, which was last reported to be stable.

Several hours before the attack, between 6 and 6:30 p.m. Thursday, the bear first appeared in the camp area but was scared off after a shot was fired into the air, the DWR said.

The victim, along with the other campers, had stored all of their food well away from the sleeping area.

“He was doing everything correctly,” Crompton said.

The man’s name and hometown were not released.

Most of the time, a bear can simply be scared away, Crompton said. If campers encounter an aggressive bear, they should report it as soon as they can to the DWR. Other safety tips can be found atwww.wildlife.utah.gov/bearsafety.

The bear encounter was the latest in a string of incidents this year.

In August, roads leading to campgrounds in the area of the Ute Fire Lookout in the Ashley National Forest’s Flaming Gorge Ranger District were closed due to black-bear activity.

In July, a young black bear was killed after wandering into Balsam campground in Hobble Creek Canyon.

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BLACK MOUNTAIN — A Black Mountain woman suffered minor injuries trying to get her dog away from a bear and two cubs that wandered into her yard Sunday, wildlife officials said.

Gaynell Lumsden was in her garage at Great Aspen Lane when the bears came into her yard about 8:30 p.m. Her small dog went after the bears, and when Lumsden tried to get her dog away, she was swatted by the mother bear.

Lumsden was treated at Mission Hospital and released late Sunday. Her dog, which was also slapped by the bear, did not suffer major injuries, officials said.

“I would not call it a bear attack, but a bear incident,” said Mike Carraway, a wildlife biologist with the North Carolina Wildlife Commission.

“It was just a mother bear defending her cubs. If it had been the bear taking aggressive action, the injuries would have been much more serious. The bear was defending its space is my take,” Carraway said.

Mother bears are not necessarily more dangerous than others, but they can be more aggressively defensive when their cubs are small at this time of year. “Later in the summer, when the cubs can run faster and climb, the mothers won’t be so protective,” Carraway said.

Bears also react instinctively to dogs, even small ones barking at them. “Dogs and bears don’t mix well,” he said.

Bears are commonly seen around the neighborhood outside Black Mountain, which was developed next to the pristine Asheville Watershed, according to neighbor Lyon Williams. “We’ve had bears break into houses. You can’t have a low-hanging bird feeder or a trash can out on the street. We have trash containers that we have to chain up.”

Bear incidents or sightings have exploded from 1993 when only 13 complaints were received around Asheville and the counties west of Buncombe, Haywood and Madison. In 2008, the commission received 302 bear reports from that district.

“This has been a fairly normal year” so far in 2009, Carraway said.

More sightings occur as more developments are built around the mountains. Humans moving into the mountains don’t necessarily chase animals away, but have actually led to an increase in the bear population since hunting is prohibited near the new homes, Carraway said. “You have all this little bear sanctuaries popping up,” he said.

In 2005, there were 4,000 bears estimated to live in Western North Carolina, according to the N.C. Wildlife Commission.

State wildlife officials can’t trap nuisance bears and relocate them, Carraway said. “We have nowhere to put them. We have Asheville city officials ask if we can’t take the bears and dump them up in the Asheville Watershed, but the watershed is saturated with bears. They would just come back down on Montreat and neighborhoods like this one.”

Warren Wilson College public safety officers issued an email alert last week, warning of an increase of bear sightings around campus and for students and staff to take precautions, said Ben Anderson, a college spokesman. “We always have some sightings during the summer, but we’re definitely seeing an increase.”

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Great site with very useful information about wild animals in California. Here’s an excerpt about Mountain Lions.

You may be attracting mountain lions to your property without knowing it!

More than half of California is mountain lion habitat. Mountain lions generally exist wherever deer are found. They are solitary and elusive, and their nature is to avoid humans.

Mountain lions prefer deer but, if allowed, they also eat pets and livestock. In extremely rare cases, even people have fallen prey to mountain lions.

Mountain lions that threaten people are immediately killed. Those that prey on pets or livestock can be killed by a property owner after the required depredation permit is secured. Moving problem mountain lions is not an option. It causes deadly conflicts with other mountain lions already there. Or the relocated mountain lion returns.

Help prevent deadly conflicts with these beautiful wild animals.

Living in Mountain Lion Country

• Don’t feed deer; it is illegal in California and it will attract mountain lions.
• Deer-proof your landscaping by avoiding plants that deer like to eat. For tips, request A Gardener’s Guide to Preventing Deer Damage from DFG offices.
• Trim brush to reduce hiding places for mountain lions.
• Don’t leave small children or pets outside unattended.
• Install motion-sensitive lighting around the house.
• Provide sturdy, covered shelters for sheep, goats, and other vulnerable animals.
• Don’t allow pets outside when mountain lions are most active—dawn, dusk, and at night.
• Bring pet food inside to avoid attracting raccoons, opossums and other potential mountain lion prey.

Identifying Mountain Lion Tracks The mountain lion track on the left can be distinguished from the dog track on the right by the absence of toenail prints and by the “M” shaped pad

Staying Safe in Mountain Lion Country

Mountain lions are quiet, solitary and elusive, and typically avoid people.

Mountain lion attacks on humans are extremely rare. However, conflicts are increasing as California’s human population expands into mountain lion habitat.

• Do not hike, bike, or jog alone.
• Avoid hiking or jogging when mountain lions are most active—dawn, dusk, and at night.
• Keep a close watch on small children.
• Do not approach a mountain lion.
• If you encounter a mountain lion, do not run; instead, face the animal, make noise and try to look bigger by waving your arms; throw rocks or other objects. Pick up small children.
• If attacked, fight back.
• If a mountain lion attacks a person, 
  immediately call 911.

click to enlarge 
 Mountain lions can be found wherever deer, their primary prey, are found. They are a Specially Protected Mammal in California and cannot be hunted.

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Black bears 
…are on the loose in Southwest Florida 
BY BILL CORNWELL bcornwell@floridaweekly.com 
THE TENUOUS TRUCE BETWEEN wildlife and urban life in Fort Myers, Lee County and all of Southwest Florida, for that matter, is fraying at the edges. And the source of this unease is one of the area’s longstanding residents: the black bear.

 

The state considers black bears a protected species. An unprovoked killing is a third-degree felony.

 

In recent weeks, there have been reports of a bear foraging in a Dumpster near Metro Parkway. On May 7, a San Carlos Park man was arrested and charged with using a .44 Magnum handgun to kill an 80-pound bear that had ventured near the man’s home. And last week, two more bears were killed — presumably by gunshot — and dumped by the side of State Road 29 in Collier County. Authorities believe the bears had been killed elsewhere and transported to the roadside site.

The sightings and the killings have prompted considerable discussion about the possible dangers bears pose in densely populated areas and how residents should react when they encounter the creatures.

“We have never had a bear attack in Florida,” says Gary Morse, a Lakelandbased spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Regarding the recent case in San Carlos Park, Mr. Morse says authorities determined the bear was not threatening.

 

PHOTOS COURTESY LORI YOUNG Above, one of the black bears in The Naples Zoo’s new habitat that opens Saturday, May 23. It will be the largest such exhibit at any zoo east of the Mississippi River. Left, David Tetzlaff, director of The Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens.

Because the state considers black bears a protected species, an unprovoked killing is a third-degree felony, which carries the possibility of a $5,000 fine and five years in prison. 

Although the number of encounters involving bears and humans is increasing, Mr. Morse says there is no cause for alarm. “Bears generally are very shy, and seek to avoid people,” he says. “It doesn’t take much to scare one off.” His advice should a bear wind up in your backyard? “Don’t be frightened. It’s probably just wandering through. Leave it alone. Don’t approach the bear or run toward it.”

 

And never, under any circumstance, he stresses, should anyone feed a bear. 

Mr. Morse estimates that Florida’s bear population is about 3,500. It takes about 30 square miles to support a bear, so it’s not unusual that one will occasionally stray into spaces normally occupied by humans. Those bears that do stray are invariably attracted by something associated with food, so keeping garbage and pet food secure will diminish the chances of an encounter.

If a bear does attack or exhibit hostile behavior, Mr. Morse advises contacting local authorities and the FWC hotline at (888) 404-3922.

“In most of these incidents, the bear is probably more frightened than the human,” he says.

Bullish on bears

Down in Naples, David Tetzlaff has bears on his mind, too, but for an altogether different reason. In fact, Mr. Tetzlaff is positively bullish on bears. As the director of The Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens, he has ample reason for his enthusiasm.

Mr. Tetzlaff and his staff are putting the final touches on a new black bear habitat that upon opening May 23 will be the largest such exhibit at any zoo east of the Mississippi River.

Mr. Tetzlaff says the new exhibit will help visitors understand black bears. And he believes that is the first step in allaying fears that may have arisen as a result of recent bear sightings.

“I want people to respect animals, not be afraid of them,” he says. “You can’t appreciate animals if you’re afraid of them. As much trouble as we’re having these days with habitat laws and endangered and threatened species, if people are afraid of these animals, they are not going to care about their survival.”

The zoo’s new bear habitat cost $750,000 to construct and encompasses 15,000 square feet. Two young black bears, a male and female, will occupy the space. The bears were not living in the wild before taking up residence at the zoo.

“These bears were in dire circumstances before they came here,” Mr. Tetzlaff explains. “They were in a private facility, in a backyard, and it was a substandard facility. Their owner died, and they could have been euthanized.”

Both animals are about 4 years old; the female weighs about 165 pounds, and the male tips the scales at close to 300 pounds, he says. (Life expectancy for black bears is somewhere between 15 and 30 years; and a full-grown bear can reach 500 pounds.)

“These bears are lucky; they got a new lease on life, and they will live in the best bear exhibit in North America,” Mr. Tetzlaff says.

The zoo habitat features a natural setting, complete with a railroad trestle that spans a creek, as well as a layout that approximates an urban backyard.

“We set it up to look like a backyard for a reason,” Mr. Tetzlaff says. “We want people to see this and realize that, yes, a bear could come into their backyard. That’s very important. The purpose of this habitat — other than entertainment — is to teach people how to live with bears.”

Many Floridians erroneously believe that bears are only to be found in the northern United States and Canada. It shocks some to discover that Florida boasts a substantial bear population. Mr. Tetzlaff says it is a constant misconception, even among people who have lived here all their lives, that there are no bears in Southwest Florida. “We have bears in Collier County and Lee County and all over Southwest Florida.”

Although no one knows for certain, Mr. Tetzlaff estimates there could be 500 to 1,000 black bears here. “They can adapt to live anywhere,” he says. “They can live in British Columbia, and they can live in Big Cypress. And this isn’t something new. The bears have been here forever.”

While Florida has yet to record a bear attack, Mr. Tetzlaff says that fact does not negate the need for caution when an encounter with a black bear occurs.

“Many people look at the black bear as cute, like a teddy bear,” he says. “They see grizzlies as ferocious and black bears as cuddly. But statistically, black bears injure or kill more people than grizzlies.” He’s quick to add that most local encounters are a result of a bear looking for food “or just exploring. They are not looking to harm.”

Face-to-face encounters

Naples Zoo visitors will also learn safety tips regarding black bears at the new exhibit. “We will talk bout faceto face encounters, and how to protect yourself,” Mr. Tetzlaff says. “We’ll also discuss what you can do on your property to discourage bears.” For example:

• If you feed your pets outside, bring the food in when they are finished.

• Don’t leave your barbecue grill outside. “Whether the grill has food on it or not, the bear can smell it a mile away,” Mr. Tetzlaff says.

• Keep bird feeders out of reach of bears.

• Don’t put your garbage out at night; put it out in the morning.

Mr. Tetzlaff, an avid bow hunter, says he has had six encounters with bears while in the woods and none turned ugly. But that is not to say there is no danger in an encounter.

“Most of the time nothing occurs, but if an encounter gets bad, it gets bad fast,” he says. “Don’t engage the bear. Just leave it alone. Do nothing to provoke it or attract it. If a bear comes for you, you are in trouble. They can run at 30 miles an hour, and they can climb a 100-foot tree in 30 seconds. With that in mind, you should never run from a bear if it comes at you. You can’t outrun the bear, and by turning and attempting to flee you are acting like prey.”

If a bear does attack, Mr. Tetzlaff advises that you “act big, act tough and yell at it.” If that doesn’t discourage the bear, then he says “fighting back” is advisable.”

The opening of the bear habitat coincides with the zoo’s 40th anniversary. The zoo was the brainchild of Mr. Tetzlaff’s father, a 6-foot-6-inch-tall swashbuckler known as “Jungle Larry.” The Plain Dealer, a Cleveland newspaper, said that Jungle Larry “lived a life as big as legend as an animal trainer, expedition leader and conservationist.” Jungle Larry appeared in three “Tarzan” movies in which he wrestled alligators as a stand-in for Johnny Weismuller.

In 1967, Jungle Larry and his wife, Nancy, who was nicknamed “Safari Jane,” happened across what was then the Caribbean Gardens in Naples and saw the potential for bigger things.

“They saw this little attraction, which didn’t have any animals — it was just trees and some birds at that time — and they thought it would a really neat place to put wild animals,” Mr. Tetzlaff recalls.

Two years later, the Tetzlaffs bought the small attraction, introduced animals and named it Jungle Larry’s Zoological Park.

From those humble beginnings, the Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens has emerged. Since 2005, the zoo has operated as a nonprofit that is governed by a board of directors. It is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, something that only 10 percent of the zoos in the United States can boast. The zoo encompasses 43 acres, with about 30 of those acres in active use. Its annual operating budget is about $4 million and it employs some 50 people. New attractions, such as the bear habitat, are financed through donations and grants.

More than 260,000 people visited the zoo last year, and Mr. Tetzlaff expects attendance to spike this year because of the bear habitat and, oddly enough, the struggling economy.

“I think we are getting more people because with the economic conditions people are looking for things to do close to home that don’t involve as much travel and expense,” he says.

The zoo is still a Tetzlaff family affair. Mr. Tetzlaff’s brother, Tim, wife, Kelly, and son, Sasha, all hold positions at the zoo.

Before becoming zoo director, Mr. Tetzlaff, who is 46 years old, followed his father’s footsteps and was an animal trainer — yeah, one of those guys with a whip and a chair — who specialized in big cats. He gave up the excitement of animal training for the administrative work of running the zoo, and – despite his love of animal training — hasn’t looked back.

“I hope to do this the rest of my life,” he says. “And I hope we can keep getting better. For me to walk away from this or not do the very best I can, would be disrespecting everything my parents worked for and built.”

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Predatory bear saw northern Albertan teenager as food, expert says

 

Large group of campers didn’t provide usual safety from attack

BY LAURA DRAKE, THE EDMONTON JOURNAL

Experts say a 15-year-old boy mauled on Sunday was the victim of a predatory bear attack.

“In this instance, we’re presuming the bear saw the boy as food,” said Russell Stashko, co-chair of Alberta’s Bear Smart program.

The boy was camping with a large group of people at Roche Lake, a remote site accessible only by a three- to four-hour all-terrain vehicle ride east of Swan Hills.

Stashko said the bear showed up at their campsite Saturday night, but was scared off by a shotgun blast. It returned early the next morning and attacked the boy before being scared off again by the same gun.

Stashko said there is “no rhyme or reason” as to why the bear attacked the 15-year-old out of the group of 25 to 30 people he was with. It is unusual for a bear to even approach such a large group, he added.

“It is uncommon. Usually, there is safety in numbers,” Stashko said.

“Most bears, 99 per cent of the time, would prefer not to be around humans. It is an anomaly.”

However, Stashko said, this is the time of year when bear attacks are the most common, since they are just waking up from their winter sleep.

“The first thing they do when they come out of hibernation is look for food,” he said.

The boy was transported Sunday morning by air ambulance to the University of Alberta Hospital. STARS spokesman Cameron Heke said the air ambulance pilots were easily able to find the victim in a remote wooded area because of a mix of technology and good-old-fashioned smoke signals.

“They had a Global Positioning System … which was very helpful in us being able to find them because they were in a heavily wooded area. They also had a big fire going, so they used smoke as a signal, as well,” Heke said.

The boy was in stable condition when STARS transported him. Heke said one of the crew on the air ambulance told him the 15-year-old victim was very brave.

“He said ‘He was a very brave young lad.’ Those were his exact words.”

Alberta Health Services spokeswoman Holly Budd said the boy was doing well in hospital. His family did not wish to speak to the media.

Stashko said investigators are almost positive that the bear which attacked the boy was killed several hours later.

“We’re certain that the bear involved was shot by some bear hunters,” Stashko said.

To be certain, the investigators have taken bear DNA from the boy’s wounds and will compare it with DNA from the bear carcass.

Stashko said there are two kinds of bear attacks: defensive and predatory. In the case where a bear looks like it may attack a human in defence of itself or its young, the best thing a person can do is to back away and give the animal lots of room.

If a bear seems like it’s attacking for predatory reasons, a person should fight back and make as much noise as possible.

Stashko also recommended using devices such as a portable electric bear fence, which this group did not have.

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Black bear mauls teenager

BY KAREN KLEISS, THE EDMONTON JOURNALMAY 18, 2009

 

 

Black bear

Photograph by: Debra Brash, Times Colonist

A 15-year-old boy was mauled by a black bear Sunday morning while camping with a large group of people in a remote area near Swan Hills.

The boy was airlifted to an Edmonton hospital, said Joan McCracken, a spokeswoman for Alberta Sustainable Resource Development. She would not say what his condition was. McCracken said the boy was camping with two dozen people near Roche Lake, a remote spot 30 kilometres east of Swan Hills that is only accessible by all-terrain vehicle.

The bear first visited the campsite on Saturday night, but another camper fired a shot into the air to scare it away. But the bear returned around 5:30 a.m. Sunday and mauled the teenager. The same camper fired the gun again and the bear fled. The teen was taken to hospital by air ambulance and a response team evacuated the remaining campers and launched an investigation.

At 8:30 a.m., hunters told wildlife officials they shot a bear leaving the creek area where the mauled teen was camping.

Officials are testing that bear’s DNA to determine whether it is the same animal that attacked the boy.

Citing department policy, both McCracken and a spokeswoman for Capital Health refused to release any information about the boy’s injuries.

McCracken also refused to say if the boy was inside his tent at the time of the attack and whether he was following standard backcountry bear safety protocols.

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Bear Attacks And How To Avoid Them

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Bear sighting no surprise to wildlife biologist

By Lisa Rogers
Times Staff Writer

Published: Friday, May 15, 2009 at 8:44 p.m. 
Last Modified: Friday, May 15, 2009 at 9:03 p.m.

A wildlife expert said he believes black bears are in Northeast Alabama to stay.
There were about 50 calls of sightings of black bears in Northeast Alabama last year, said Tracy Nelson, wildlife biologist with the Alabama Department of Conversation and Natural Resources.
That is up significantly from about four years ago when Nelson first started keeping track of bear activity.
An Attalla street department employee saw a black bear early Thursday in a neighborhood near First Street and watched the bear come from between two houses and cross Preston Avenue, go through a couple of grassy alleys and run into some nearby woods.
A Gadsden family spotted bear tracks behind their home Friday evening.
Rhonda Simmons said there were three pairs of tracks on her property between Charles Street and Perry Street.
“I just can’t believe it,” she said. “It just blows my mind. I don’t think it’s the same one they spotted in Attalla. I don’t see it traveling that far. It makes me wonder if (there are) more in this area.”
Nelson, a conservation enforcement officer and wildlife biologist, said he first started to keep track of reports after a female bear den was discovered in Cherokee County.
The bear had three cubs, he said.
He said those cubs, now adult bears, have probably populated.
“They have a really big home range,” he said. “They can travel several square miles in a given time. Those cubs have dispersed and established their own ranges.”
He said the bear seen in Attalla could be one of those.
There was a report from the Gadsden area last year and there have been several reports from the Tabor Road area, Nelson said.
When Nelson first started tracking the bear sightings, he believes most of the bears were transient – moving through the area from Georgia and Tennessee.
Most of those sightings were in spring.
“But the nature of the calls have changed,” he said.
“People are encountering them in spring and summer and that would lead me to believe they’re here to stay,” he said. “A few are finding new territories to make a new home.”
Nelson said it is important for people to understand that bears rarely come in contact with people and rarely are seen in populated areas.
The black bears of this area are mainly vegetarians and do not exceed 200 pounds, he said.
“They eat nuts, leaves and scratch around for grubs,” he said. “It’s not like an aggressive predator that is going to eat flesh.”
Bears don’t generally go to populated areas, but when they do, it is usually after food, Nelson said.
“They’re going to get away from people as a general rule,” he said. “If you leave dog food or scraps, that might be why a bear is hanging around.”
Nelson said increased bear sightings in Georgia and other nearby states indicate that more bears could be making their way into Alabama.
Development most likely has driven the bears from their habitats.
They tend to follow river systems and streams, Nelson said.
Georgia has established a legal bear season in Floyd and Chattooga counties to keep the bear populations in check.
Last year more than 300 were legally harvested, Nelson said.
He said the number grew in North Carolina to more than 1,800 legally-harvested bear last year.
Bears still are protected in Alabama and not considered a game animal, Nelson said.
“We’re not anywhere close to where we’re going to have a nuisance,” he said. “A few are finding new territories to make a new home. Some people get a little nervous, but they’re no more of a threat than having a deer in the area.”
People should use common sense by keeping garbage in an enclosed can.
“Just be aware of what attracts bears,” Nelson said. “If you see one, give it plenty of space. You don’t have to grab a gun to defend your life.”
The black bears in this region are not the brown bears of the west and are not likely to attack, Nelson said.
“It’s not impossible, but it’s very unlikely that they’re going to attack someone,” he said.

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Looks like someone got a little over-aggressive.

Editorial: Local bear killing needless slaughter

EDITORIAL • MAY 12, 2009

The needless execution of a juvenile black bear by a San Carlos Park man last week was at best an act of ignorance.

Kevin Doerr, 40, was arrested after dispatching the 80-pound animal with a .44 Magnum handgun. The Florida black bear is a threatened species; killing one is a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in jail and $5,000 in fines.

If Doerr is found guilty, he should pay a significant price. Such is too rarely the case with wildlife violations.

That’s a shame because as we better protect wildlife and its habitat, and as the human population grows and spreads, such encounters will increase. There have been several recent sightings of black bears in Lee County.

State wildlife officers found that the shooting last week was not self-defense. “The bear was not disturbing the property or acting aggressively in any manner,” said Gary Morse, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. “He wasn’t a threat.”

We could understand such an act in the case of an attack on humans. But absent that, the best course in a bear encounter in a settled area is to call wildlife officers or law enforcement if a threat seems imminent. There has never been a documented case of a black bear attacking a human in Florida.

People need to respect potentially dangerous wildlife, but not to regard them with fear and loathing, and certainly not as opportunities to finally blow something away with that big hand cannon.