Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission officers managed to trap and tranquilize a black bear seen earlier Monday roaming in the downtown Fort Myers area.
Fort Myers Police alerted residents that there was a black bear in the area of Broadway and Victoria Avenue in the city Monday morning and urged residents to avoid the area on foot.
Hailee Seely, Public Information Director for the FWC's SW Region, said the FWC and police began receiving reports around 5 a.m. Monday.
FWC biologists set a trap and chemically immobilized the bear. Seely said the captured bear will be relocated to more suitable habitat.
"Seeing a bear in a neighborhood is not necessarily cause for alarm," Seely said in a prepared statement. "However, it is important that residents secure food attractants so that bears do not linger in the area. If a bear is not able to find food, it will move on."
The FWC statement reminded residents that if a bear is sighted, it should be given space, not approached or fed. Feeding bears can make them lose their natural fear of people, the FWC said.
Among other recommendations from the wildlife agency to reduce conflicts with bears and other wildlife:
- Remove or secure all food attractants from around your house and yard, including garbage, pet food and bird seed.
- Store garbage in a sturdy shed or garage and then put it out on the morning of pickup rather than the night before. If not stored in a secured building, modify your existing garbage can to make it more bear-resistant or use a bear-resistant container.
- Secure commercial garbage in bear-resistant dumpsters.
To learn more about bears and how to avoid conflicts with them, visit MyFWC.com/Bear or BearWise.org.
Contact the FWC’s Wildlife Alert Hotline at 888-404-FWCC (3922) if you feel threatened by a bear; observe a sick, injured, dead or orphaned bear; or to report someone who is either harming bears or intentionally feeding them.
The FWC said that bears become more active during the spring in search of things to eat, including female bears teaching their cubs where to find food. Black bears are generally not aggressive but they have injured people in Florida.
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