Bears

Hunters in Florida will have a chance to kill more bears later this year than in the 2025 hunt, and once again non-hunters are expected to apply for the permits to undermine the planned hunt.

A young, male black bear which had been getting into garbage on the Florida Gulf Coast University campus was trapped Thursday morning and will be relocated. The around 200-pound animal was caught in a Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission trap behind the WGCU Public Media station offices on campus.

For the first time in a decade, a black bear hunt has returned to Florida. FWC reports that they received over 163,000 applications for the chance to win one of only 172 bear tags.

With more than 100,000 permit applications submitted for a December bear hunt, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has reduced the number permits that will be issued — and the number of bears that may be killed — by 15. After saying last month that it would issue 187 permits, the commission has reduced that number to 172, according to its website. A commission spokeswoman didn’t give an explanation for the decrease. The decrease was first reported by the Orlando Sentinel.

Multiple sightings of a bear on the main part of the FGCU campus in recent days has prompted the placement of a trap on campus.The University Police Department urged people stay clear of the trap. UPD asked people not approach the trap, but report — from afar — if anything is seen inside.

A week after an FGCU alert cautioned that bears were seen in the North Village student housing area of the university, a student at the South Village captured a wandering Yogi on video.The morning of June 24 the university issued a warning — "Eagle Alert: Bears seen near North Lake Village area, searching for trash. Please exercise caution. Use trash compactor-no trash bags in breezeways or open dumpsters."

A Tuesday morning warned — "Eagle Alert: Bears seen near North Lake Village area, searching for trash. Please exercise caution. Use trash compactor-no trash bags in breezeways or open dumpsters."

As the start of summer draws closer, Florida residents should expect more activity from black bears. Juvenile bears could be spotted in unexpected areas as they leave their mothers’ home ranges.

A fatal black bear attack that claimed the lives of an 89-year-old rural Collier County man and his dog this week has been confirmed by the Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission.The confirmation of the attack that took place early Monday in the community of Jerome, was issued Friday. It was the first such confirmed attack in the state's history.