Protect the Florida black bear by petitioning Florida county commissioners to enact bear ordinances including provisions for affordable bear resistant trash cans.  

There are fourteen (14) counties in Florida which overlap significant black bear habitats where human-bear encounters have been reported and are being monitored.  The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reported a 95% reduction in human-bear encounters in a neighborhood in Volusia county where bear resistant trash cans are in use. (http://myfwc.com/media/3218517/6A2-%20waste-management-presentation.pdf  

An ordinance was passed in Seminole county in December 2015 that included measures to reduce human-bear encounters by introducing the use of bear resistant trash cans and through careful management of potential bear attractants. (http://media.cmgdigital.com/shared/news/documents/2015/12/08/bears.pdf  

Following Seminole county’s lead, we are calling on the commissioners of the thirteen remaining counties (Volusia, Lake, Marion, Collier, Orange, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Bay, Franklin, Putnam, Leon, Wakulla and Lee) to pass similar ordinances in their respective counties and help reduce human-bear interactions.  

The contents of this petition will be presented at county board meetings in each of the counties listed above in support of our request that black bear ordinances be approved.