Update Post: November 30, 2023 4:48 pm
Date: September 25, 2023 Time: 00:32:03
Smith, who has served as county sheriff since 2017, said his office received more than 40 calls about “unexpected guests” over the past year. Bears have become a growing problem in the last five years, he told USA TODAY. Some of the animal reports Smith received included a group of cubs that had apparently lost their mother and were causing commotion in the town of Carrabelle. Bears have also broken into people’s garages and homes, he said. A bear even entered a woman’s home in the middle of the night, forcing her to barricade herself in her bedroom while she called the police.
The sheriff said that if the commission refuses, he intends to appeal directly to the state’s governor, Ron DeSantis, who is the second Republican candidate for president. “Get to work and give us a solution,” Smith concluded in the video.
Commission spokeswoman Lisa Thompson said bears will likely be more active in the fall as they prepare for winter. People can play an important role in preventing conflict by eliminating food sources such as garbage cans or garbage feeders. “If a bear can’t find food, it will move on. Feeding bears can cause them to lose their natural fear of people.”