Florida wildlife officials kill 3 bears that may have fatally attacked man, dog near Naples

3 hours ago 2

CBS News Live

Three bears killed by Florida Fish and Wildlife officers Monday nighttime whitethorn person been liable for an onslaught that killed a antheral and his canine earlier successful the time adjacent Naples, successful Southwest Florida.

The antheral who died has been identified arsenic 89-year-old Robert Markel, a long-time nonmigratory of a tiny assemblage successful Collier County. The FWC said Markel and his canine were not killed astatine the aforesaid clip and much than 1 carnivore whitethorn person been involved.

The FWC said aft the attack, which happened conscionable southbound of Big Cypress Wildlife Management Area on State Road 29, they secured the perimeter and acceptable up cameras and traps.

Overnight, the FWC said officers killed 3 bears successful the area. DNA samples from the country and the 3 bears person been sent to Gainesville for testing, and the wildlife bureau is awaiting those results to spot if they were progressive successful the deadly attack.

The FWC said until they tin find which bears were definitively progressive successful the onslaught their probe is ongoing.

Officials were urging section residents successful Collier County and visitors to stay connected alert.

"Our bureau takes this precise seriously. Public information is paramount and our priority. We person to instrumentality nationalist information into account. But also, you cognize not lone was a unfortunate killed, a canine was killed successful beingness of people, and determination was tracks and everything else. So we instrumentality each of that into information arsenic we're moving guardant with the carnivore absorption portion of things," Mike Orlando, the FWC's carnivore absorption programme coordinator, said.

Orlando said successful summation to uncovering the bears, they volition effort to find what led to the attacks.

"To commencement with, dogs and bears truly conscionable don't get along. We spot that passim the state, they truly don't similar each other. So we bash person conflicts with dogs rather frequently. The contented with a idiosyncratic being not lone injured but killed by a carnivore is extraordinarily rare," Orlando said.

"It's uncommon conscionable passim the country. It's a tragic lawsuit and I don't truly cognize however to reply the question connected wherefore this carnivore did what it did, but we're successful the process of trying to fig each that out," helium added.

This marks the archetypal ever deadly carnivore onslaught connected a quality successful the state, according to authorities authorities.

Florida's achromatic carnivore colonisation connected the rise

Florida's achromatic carnivore population, erstwhile classified arsenic threatened, has rebounded successful caller decades. The authorities has much than 4,000 achromatic bears, according to the FWC.

Bear sightings and interactions with radical person go much common, peculiarly successful agrarian areas of northbound and cardinal Florida.

The FWC has an interactive carnivore map to amusement carnivore related calls.