Wildlife officials in Florida are investigating what is believed to be the first fatal mauling of a human by a bear in the state.<\/p>\n
The body of the black bear suspected in the death of 89-year-old Robert Markel was removed from woodland near the unincorporated community of Jerome, close to Florida\u2019s Big Cypress wildlife management area, on Monday night, according to the Naples Daily News.<\/p>\n
Rangers were called to the area shortly after 7.15am on Monday when Markel\u2019s daughter reported that she witnessed a bear killing his dog, said George Reynaud, spokesperson for the Florida fish and wildlife conservation commission (FWC), at a press conference on Monday.<\/p>\n
He said Markel\u2019s body was found \u201ca couple of hundred yards away\u201d from the dog. \u201cWe do know it was a bear attack. We don\u2019t know if it was the same bear or multiple bears,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Reynaud said that rangers had set traps in the woodland during the day on Monday, and a search team of about 10 was searching the area on foot, as well as using drones. He warned the public to stay away from the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cLethal force is a last resort but we are armed to address that,\u201d another FWC spokesperson, Tyler Matthews, told the press conference.<\/p>\n
The commission has recorded 43 human-bear encounters in Florida dating back to 2006, excluding vehicle strikes, and almost all of them also involving a dog. Markel\u2019s death would be the first fatality in the state attributed to a bear mauling, if that was found to be his cause of death.<\/p>\n
Matthews told the Naples Daily News that the carcass of the bear in Monday\u2019s incident was being transported to Gainesville for a necropsy. The Guardian has contacted FWC for further comment.<\/p>\n
The only other recorded encounter in Florida this year between a bear and human was in Marion, in the state\u2019s north-east region, in February, involving an adult female and her cub.<\/p>\n
Florida has more than 4,000 black bears, with a sizable population in south-west Florida, and in and around the Big Cypress natural area.<\/p>\n
Once a threatened species, with only 300-500 statewide in the 1970s because of habitat loss and unregulated hunting, black bear numbers have rebounded in recent years.<\/p>\n
Hunting was banned in 1994, but the Florida legislature authorized a limited hunt in 2015, and FWC has proposed issuing permits for the hunting of another 187 bears later this year. The move sparked a backlash from wildlife advocates and a petition with more than 31,000 signatures.<\/p>\n
In June of last year, Florida\u2019s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, signed a bill loosening protections for black bears. Legislators approved the measure after hearing a state congressman, Jason Shoaf, insist without evidence that black bears high on crack cocaine were breaking into people\u2019s homes and destroying property.<\/p>\n