Quality of life index
By TIMES WIRES
Published October 16, 2006
12,000 Estimated black bear population in Florida in the late 1800s.
2,000-2,500 Estimated black bear population in Florida today.
25-50 Percentage of Florida black bear cubs that die before turning a year old.
20 Percentage of Florida black bear juveniles that die before reaching adulthood (4 years old).
598 Number of bears harvested in Florida between 1981 and 1993, the year bear hunting was outlawed.
90 Percentage of Florida bear deaths since 1994 caused by vehicles.
1,564 Number of roadkill black bears in Florida from 1976 through Oct. 12.
624 Weight, in pounds, of the largest bear on record in Florida, an 8-year-old male struck and killed by a car in Collier County in 1988.
11,510 Number of calls the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission received of human-bear conflicts, including bears in yards and bears rooting through garbage, from 1978 through Oct. 12.
78.6 Percentage of bear conflicts since 1978 that have occurred in the past seven years.
$150.05 Cost of constructing a pressure-treated bear-proof garbage can caddy.
5 and $5,000 Maximum prison sentence, in years, and fine for killing a bear in Florida.