OSTEEN, Fla. – As state wildlife officers continue their search for a black bear that found itself on I-4 in the Orlando area this week, conservationists say it’s no surprise that more bears and humans are interacting across Florida.
Traci Deen, the CEO of Conservation Florida, said that like many people she heard about the bear on I-4 after a News 6 shared video from one of our viewers online.
“My reaction was immediately sadness, right?” Deen said. “I think all of us felt that when we witnessed the bear panicking on a very busy highway, and we’re seeing more and more wildlife, more and more bears in our neighborhoods and our cities and our suburbs than we really ever have before.”
The video captured via dashcam by News 6 viewer Amy shows the bear on top of a concrete median in the express lanes near Orange Blossom Trail. The bear could be seen leaning against a pole while drivers passed by during the Tuesday-morning commute.
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“I think that was a very powerful image for all of us to witness,” said Deen.
The video has been seen thousands of times on our News 6 social media pages and has over 200 comments on Instagram alone.
One woman wrote, “Poor buddy. Exactly why our green spaces are so incredibly important in Central Florida!”
Another person said, “This is exactly why we need to save some land and create wildlife crossings before wildlife disappears.”
News 6 reached out to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and learned bears are more active this time of year and cross more roadways. A spokesperson said that each year in Florida, an average of 300 bears are killed after being hit by vehicles.
“Florida is growing rapidly. Anybody who lives here knows that we’re seeing it, we’re witnessing it in real time. We’re growing by over 1,000 people per day,” Deen said. “To put that into perspective, that’s a city the size of Orlando moving to Florida every single year. And with that comes the transition of our more rural and wild places into more intensive use.”
Conservation Florida, which is a nonprofit land conservancy, just permanently protected more than 1,000 acres of black bear and panther habitat in Highlands County known as AP Ranch.
On Thursday, Deen met our News 6 team at a nearly 500-acre property in Osteen that also recently opened to the public this year, the D Ranch preserve.
“When we protect places like where we are today, we’re providing our black bears room to roam, room to thrive, room to live,” Deen said. “We need to be more strategic about where we can serve land as we grow, make sure that Florida isn’t just a place where we’re thriving, but that wildlife and nature can thrive too.”
Earlier this week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a budget that includes $996 million to support conservation and land acquisition programs like Florida Forever and the Wildlife Corridor. Around $200 million in funding was redirected back to land acquisition with the governor’s veto pen, essentially reversing legislative efforts to give that money to the general fund.
“Luckily our state leaders have invested once again in land conservation and conservation of agricultural spaces,” Deen said.