ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — A bear is still on the loose somewhere in or near St. Augustine, but neither the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission nor the St. Augustine Police Department knows exactly where it is.
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At 4:05 p.m. Tuesday, St Augustine Police posted on its official Facebook page saying:
“Bear Update:
“FWC believe the bear has moved out of the area and will stage the bear trap at another location.
“For more information contact MyFWC Florida Fish and Wildlife"
RELATED: ‘It was running from the cops,’ St. Augustine neighbors see black bear downtown
People living near the Downtown and Lincolnville areas where the bear was spotted are on edge after hearing the news of a bear attack in southwest Florida.
FWC has packed up their donut-filled trap for the day after having no luck in finding a young bear that took an early morning stroll through St. Augustine.
“It’s a possibility the bear has moved on upstream in the waterway or through the marsh,” SAPD Public Information Officer Dee Brown said. ”At this time, according to FWC, there is no active threat to the community.”
RELATED: Police, FWC tracking black bear spotted in downtown St. Augustine
Brown said SAPD first spotted the bear downtown on St. George Street around 6:30 a.m. Tuesday. His team followed the bear through Lincolnville until it went into a marsh around 10 a.m. After the sighting, FWC partnered with SAPD and set up a trap to lure the bear.
FWC officials were not available to do an interview Tuesday, but they told ANJ that right now, the bear, if they do trap it, will most likely be relocated to its natural habitat.
What do you do if you see a black bear?
“With black bears, you’re actually supposed to, like, make noise,” said Adam Sugalski, executive director of the nonprofit, OneProtest. “You want them to ... see and hear you coming, because the more noise you make, the taller you are, they’ll usually run away from that.”
Sugalski has studied bears for years and works to protect them.
Florida state law allows people to kill or injure a bear with no penalty if they believe it was “necessary to avoid an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury.”
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However, Brown is encouraging people to not shoot any bear if they see one.
“I would stay away from the bear, notify FWC or the St. Augustine Police Department, and let the professionals, let FWC handle it,” Brown said.
We will keep you updated once we learn of any new developments.
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BearWise® tips from FWC
If you have bears in your area, follow these additional BearWise® tips to help prevent conflicts with bears:
Secure food and garbage.
- Store garbage in a sturdy shed or garage and then put it out on the morning of pickup rather than the night before.
- If not stored in a secured building, modify your existing garbage can to make it more bear-resistant or use a bear-resistant container.
- Secure commercial garbage in bear-resistant dumpsters.
- Protect gardens, beehives, compost, and livestock with electric fencing.
- Pick ripe fruit from trees and bushes and remove fallen fruit from the ground.
Remove or secure bird and wildlife feeders.
- Remove wildlife feeders.
- If wildlife feeders are left up, only put enough food out for wildlife to finish eating before dark and make feeders bear-resistant.
Never leave pet food outdoors.
- Feed pets indoors.
- If feeding pets outdoors, only put food outside for short time periods and bring in leftover food and dishes after each feeding.
Clean and store grills.
- Clean and degrease grills and smokers after each use.
- If mobile, store them in a secure shed or garage.
Alert neighbors to bear activity.
- If you see a bear, let your neighbors know.
- Share tips on how to avoid conflicts with bears.
- Encourage your homeowner’s association or local government to institute bylaws or ordinances to require trash be kept secure.
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Having conflicts with bears? FWC staff are here to help — call the FWC regional office closest to you. To find the phone number for your region, go to MyFWC.com/Contact, and click on “Contact Regional Offices.”
If you spot an injured, orphaned, or dead bear, feel threatened by a bear, or to report someone who is either harming bears or intentionally feeding them, call the FWC’s Wildlife Alert Hotline at 888-404-FWCC (3922).
More information is available at MyFWC.com/Bear, where you can access the “Guide to Living in Bear Country” brochure. Find additional ways to be BearWise at BearWise.org. Thirty-nine states, including Florida, support BearWise®, an innovative program that helps people learn ways to responsibly live around bears.
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