RADIO-COLLARED BEAR SHOT BY POACHER IN LAKE PLACID

May 9, 2005
Contact: Gary Morse (863) 648-3203

All that remains of M-8, a 275-pound three-year old male black bear is a radio tracking collar, a white ear tag and some skin and bones. The adult bear was illegally shot and killed by a poacher on a large ranch near Lake Placid last fall. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) wants to know who did it and why.

Wildlife Alert, a stakeholders group that helps combat the illegal taking of fish and wildlife, is willing to pay up to a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrator. Anyone having any information about the shooting of a bear in Highlands County should contact the Wildlife Alert hotline at 1-888-404-FWCC (3922). Callers may remain anonymous and be eligible for a reward upon the conviction of a violator.

The bruin was part of a study conducted by the University of Kentucky’s (UK) Native Bear Research Project. The local portion of the research project focuses on black bears in and around Highlands County, one of the state's smallest populations. Black bears are a threatened species in Florida and as far as this one is concerned, it was an important animal with a well-known history.

"M-8 was important because this particular animal was one of the bears using the west side of the range. He had the potential to show us how bears negotiate roads and other obstacles that link the remaining patches of forest in the area. This information is highly important in developing conservation blueprints for the region because bears are an ideal flagship species for protecting sensitive habitats and other imperiled animals," said Dave Maehr, Bear Research Project Coordinator for the University of Kentucky.

UK Researchers received a mortality signal from the bear’s radio collar on Sat., Nov. 20, at around 5 p.m. Biologists tracked the signal to a large ranch near Lake Placid where the remains of the juvenile bear were located by an FWC Law Enforcement Officer. There has been an ongoing investigation since that time. Investigators are now asking for the public’s help in catching and prosecuting the perpetrator.

Information on Florida black bears is available at Wildflorida.org/bear/ or by contacting the FWC’s Lakeland office at (863) 648-3203.

This is the second radio collared bear in the FWC’s Southwest Region that has been found shot to death by poachers. A Pasco County man was convicted of shooting another UK radio-collared bear in 2004.

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