Deadly bear attack in Florida
An elderly man and his dog were killed in a bear attack in Collier County, according to wildlife officials. FOX 13’s Mariah Harrison reports.
JEROME, Fla. – The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) says an 89-year-old man and his dog were killed by a bear on Monday, marking the first deadly bear attack in the state since records have been kept.
Deadly bear attack
The backstory:
Authorities say Robert Markel, 89, was outside with his dog near the Big Cypress Wildlife Management Area in Collier County early Monday when the reported attack happened.
Markel’s daughter told investigators that she saw a bear attack her father’s dog, then realized that her dad was nowhere to be found. She then found his body just hundreds of yards away.
FWC says an 89-year-old man and his dog were killed in a bear attack in Collier County.
“We do know it was a bear attack. We don’t know if it was the same bear or multiple bears,” FWC spokesperson George Reynaud said.
After deploying four live bear traps, authorities say an animal believed to be a Florida black bear was later captured, and FWC is working to determine whether it was responsible for Monday’s attack.
Authorities captured a bear they say may have attacked and killed an 89-year-old man on Monday.
Black bear attacks on humans
By the numbers:
There are about 750,000 black bears in North America, but attacks on humans are rare, with black bears killing less than one person per year on average.
About 4,000 black bears live in Florida, according to wildlife officials.
Monday’s deadly bear attack is the first in Florida since FWC began tracking bear encounters.
Dig deeper:
There have now been at least two bear attacks in Florida since last week. A woman in Sanford was attacked outside her home while walking her dog, and said she used a bag of cookies as a distraction to get to safety.
RELATED: Florida woman uses bag of cookies to escape bear attack near home
For a closer look at bear encounters in Florida, click here.
Will there be a bear hunt in Florida?
Earlier this year, FWC asked for public input on a potential black bear hunt, holding a series of public meetings in early April.
Plans call for a hunt in December 2025 to kill 187 of Florida’s 4,000 black bears.
It’d be a first for the state since 2015, when overwhelming enthusiasm from hunters prompted officials to close the bear hunting season after just 48 hours because hunters had already surpassed the set limit of animals permitted to be killed.
The Source: Information for this story was gathered by FOX 13’s Mariah Harrison, with additional details from previous FOX 13 News reports.
STAY CONNECTED WITH FOX 13 TAMPA:
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
