MILTON — Santa Rosa County is moving forward with a plan to prevent human-bear interactions, which occur mostly in the southern end of the county.
In 2015, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reportedly received 352 calls of bear sightings in Santa Rosa County, 90 of which were bears getting into garbage. Over the past five years, calls due to bears getting into garbage ranged between 25 and 49 percent.
Santa Rosa County commissioners in August moved to apply for a $150,000 BearWise grant from the FWC with a 100 percent matching contribution from the Environmental Department Enterprise Fund.
The FWC asked that county leaders establish an ordinance requiring residents to have a bear-resistant trash can or leave trash secured until 6 a.m. on the day of pickup.
Here’s how other counties are handling their bear problems with FWC.
MARION COUNTY
Receiving $40,000, Marion County, in central Florida, is at the top of the list for FWC funding.
The first 166 residents who bought a bear-resistant trash can got a $120 credit. Residents paid $60 and got a 50 percent match from the county.
The Marion County Bear Aware website says in 2014 32 percent of 518 calls to the FWC about bear interactions there were associated with bears getting into garbage.
Stacie Causey, public information specialist for Marion County, said they started selling bear-resistant cans last year. She said the public has been receptive to the cans, noting the county has sold out of the 64-gallon ones.
LAKE COUNTY
Seminole County has a bear ordinance, but SRC commissioners decided it was too long for our area and found a simpler one in Lake County.
In 2015, FWC ranked Lake County as having the second highest number of bear calls in the state at 712, with Seminole right behind.
With 33 percent of those calls being for bears getting into garbage, Lake County moved forward with a bear ordinance and bear-resistant trash can program.
The ordinance requires garbage cans be placed at curbside before 6 a.m. on collection day. Customers are also responsible for removing garbage cans from the right-of-way and properly securing them by 10 p.m. on collection day.
Lake County anticipates rolling out its bear-resistant trash can program next spring.
WHITING FIELD
Back in Santa Rosa County, Naval Air Station Whiting Field dealt with a bear problem at Naval Outlying Field Choctaw by using bear-proof garbage containers.
Whiting Public Information Officer Jay Cope, said, “Bears were damaging the pre-existing Dumpsters at Choctaw and the bears were seen by the watchstanders there.”
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Santa Rosa County eyes bear-deterrent methods (MAP)