Love Florida’s Black Bears this Valentine’s Season

New Ordinance Requires You to Secure Your Trash

Depending on where you live in Collier County, you may or may not know that we share our County with the charismatic Florida black bear. Collier is the heart of the South Bear Management Unit, which includes seven South Florida counties, and is estimated to be home to over 1,000 bears.

One of the best things we can do to live in harmony with these bears is to prevent them from accessing our garbage and becoming habituated to human foods. Bears have a strong sense of smell and can detect food sources over a mile away. It is much easier for them to meet their caloric needs by consuming discarded groceries than foraging for hours in the forest. However, when bears learn to rely on trash and human snacks, they may lose their natural fear of humans and could pose a safety threat to our communities. This is dangerous for both people and bears, as the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) kills conflict bears they deem to be a safety threat.

In 2018, FWC killed 27 bears for public safety reasons, largely associated with unsecured human food sources.

With this knowledge, the Conservancy advocated for the adoption of an ordinance that would require Collier residents to secure their trash from bears. We are pleased to report that Collier County passed such an ordinance on October 22, 2019. Full compliance with this new local law will prevent dangerous human-wildlife conflicts, and allow bears to live more natural lives.

There are many ways to secure your waste and comply with Collier’s new code. Common methods of compliance include placing garbage inside a home or garage until it is moved curbside for pickup or purchasing and utilizing an automated bear-resistant can. These cans have locking mechanisms that are designed to keep bears out, but automatically open when the local trash collection trucks pick them up to empty them.

If you would like further guidance on how to secure your refuse, you may call FWC’s South Florida Wildlife Assistance hotline at (561) 625–5122 or visit FWC’s webpage on securing attractants. It is important to note that keeping garbage cans within screened-in lanais will not secure the containers from bears.

Collier County is selling a limited number of subsidized bear-resistant cans on a first-come, first-serve basis. Residents can purchase these cans at Waste Management, Inc. of Florida (4500 Exchange Avenue, Naples, FL 34104) during business hours with a $115 check. After the subsidized cans are sold, bear-resistant carts will continue to be sold at Waste Management, Inc. for full price ($230).

We encourage you to celebrate this Valentine’s season by securing your rubbish and showing your love for Florida’s black bears. Purchasing a bear-resistant can for your honey is a wild(life) way to celebrate the holiday.

For the romantic heroes looking to go the extra mile, we also suggest love notes promising to bring pet food in at night and love coupons vowing to re-hang the family bird feeder so a bear cannot reach it per FWC guidance.

Making these BearWise changes will not only win you brownie points, but they’ll also ensure Collier’s two and four-legged families can live happily ever after.