Collier County awarded money for bear-proof trash cans (St. Augustine, Everglades: house, to buy)

[Corrie22]

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission awarded $45,000 to Collier County to buy bear-resistant trash cans for people living there. This is a portion of the $500,000 Governor Rick Scott gave FWC, which was distributed between 10 Florida counties to help reduce human-bear conflicts.

https://www.fox4now.com/news/local-n...oof-trash-cans

[Hammocks Bum]

It's that Bad in Collier ??? I know Lake County has a lot of problems too, but I suposse being so close to the Everglades you're bound to get them critters looking for food in people's trash.

[Tripower455]

Originally Posted by Hammocks Bum

It's that Bad in Collier ??? I know Lake County has a lot of problems too, but I suposse being so close to the Everglades you're bound to get them critters looking for food in people's trash.

They've always been here, but they've gotten exponentially more common in residential areas since the economy turned and they've resumed clearing every tree from every square inch of available land for high density developments. It's concentrating them into the wooded GGE areas.

We've lived our house in GGE for almost 20 years. Prior to about 4 years ago, we'd see bears once every other year or so. Now, they're here several times per month. Deer too. Never saw one on the property until about 3 or 4 years ago. They're here as often as the bears these days.

[Corrie22]

Tri, in the 70's the total bear population for the state of Florida was only ~300 bears...
....best estimate now is around 5000
That has more to do with it....

Same with deer......deer were killed in mass killings....over 10,000 at a time...because of cattle and ticks
.....screw worm took out even more...in the 30's deer were thought to be completely gone from Florida
Screw worm is gone now and deer population is estimated at around 1/2 million now.....and they love cleared yards and St. Augustine grass...LOL

[Tripower455]

Originally Posted by Corrie22

Tri, in the 70's the total bear population for the state of Florida was only ~300 bears...
....best estimate now is around 5000
That has more to do with it...

Same with deer......deer were killed in mass killings....over 10,000 at a time...because of cattle and ticks
.....screw worm took out even more...in the 30's deer were thought to be completely gone from Florida
Screw worm is gone now and deer population is estimated at around 1/2 million now.....and they love cleared yards and St. Augustine grass...LOL

So it's only a coincidence that we've seen exponentially more bear/deer sightings in the last 5 years or so, since they've cleared hundreds of acres and built thousands of homes within a few miles of my house?

[Corrie22]

More than likely, it's a combination of all of those things...not just one or two

[ron e wheels]

That's interesting because our neighbor called 2 weeks ago and they told her that the pilot program for this was over. Just started to have a bear hitting on our 2 garbage cans. I wonder what's the truth or who you have to know.