The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says people should be "Bear Wise" during the spring. (FWC photo)
May 06, 2025
By Lynn Burkhead
Story Update
Markel's dog was also killed by a bear, but apparently in a separate attack that was "some time apart" according to multiple sources. Markel's grandaughter reportedly witnessed the bear kill Markel's dog in the front yard and she apparently went looking for her grandfather and couldn't find him. His trailer (on the property) was "in disarray" according to ABC News . At that point, she made a call around 7 a.m. on Monday summoning authorities.
When officers arrived, some of the man's personal belongings were scattered nearby and the search began. He was then discovered deceased approximately 100 yards away.
A briefing from FWC officials indicated that traps and cameras were set and three male bears had been dispatched in the area, one weighing more than 400 pounds according to Fort Meyers' WINK television news station . The DNA from these bears is being tested at the University of Florida to see if any were involved in the attack.
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Results from those tests are expected sometime on Wednesday, May 7, 2025. We'll keep you updated on this story as it continues to develop in the first bear attack fatality in Florida's history.
Florida is known for many things, from white sandy beaches to great freshwater and saltwater fishing. Something the Sunshine State has not been noted for are fatal bear attacks.
That appears to have changed after Florida authorities discovered a deceased man not far from Naples earlier this week, apparently the victim of a black bear attack.
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Could Be First Fatal Bear Attack Ever in Florida Here's what is known thus far. First, the New York Times and others reported on the afternoon of May 5, 2025 that "A man and dog were killed in Southwest Florida on Monday in what the authorities said appeared to be a rare deadly attack by a black bear."
The Naples Daily News reported that the as-of-yet unidentified man was discovered dead near the Big Cypress Wildlife Management Area in Collier County. The local newspaper also noted that wildlife officials from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers and the Collier County Sheriff's Office responded to a call, finding an elderly man and his dog deceased.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission public information officer Tyson Matthews confirmed that if the ongoing investigation—for now, the site is considered an active crime scene as authorities continue their investigation—eventually proves that it was indeed a bear attack, it would be the first ever death by bear attack in Florida.
If that is the ultimate conclusion, the fatal bear attack will be the first such attack in Florida history dating back to 1900. Fatal bear attack data can be found in several places, including on an online map and list of attacks . A look at that BatchGeo data shows that dating back to the turn of the 20th century, this week’s apparent fatal bear attack is not only the first known fatal incident in Florida history, but also just the third time that such an attack has occurred anywhere in the American South.
A quarter century ago, the data base shows that Glenda Ann Bradley was killed by a black bear sow and a cub in May 2000 at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park not far from Elkmont, Tenn. Authorities said at that time it was the first known fatal bear attack to ever occur in the southeastern U.S. and that the bears were dispatched by park rangers as they hovered over the 50-year-old woman's body.
A few years later in April 2006, Elora Petrasek was killed in Tennessee’s Cherokee National Forest when a bear attacked the victim and her family alongside a waterfall near a campground. In addition to injuring Petrasek's mother and brother in the attack, the six-year-old female bear was trapped and killed by authorities.
Florida's Black Bears Bears have held a complicated place on Florida's landscape, proving to be a curiosity to some and a potentially dangerous nuisance to others. The Florida FWC bear information page notes that the population fell to just a few hundred in the 1970s, but has now rebounded to where there are more than 4,000 black bears today.
As old Florida has turned into new Florida with rampant development into and next to wild spaces, and as the state’s population has surged in growth, the presence of a few thousand bears and lots of human beings does lead to occasional face-to-face contact between bears and humans.
Some of those have gone viral and almost appear—almost—to be humorous. Florida Sportsman reported on such a viral black bear encounter in June 2023 when a bear was photographed and videoed frolicking in the surf near Destin, Fla. And a few weeks earlier near Naples that same summer, Fort Meyers TV news station WINK showed another viral video where a pair of bears broke through a screened enclosure around the swimming pool at a Naples home.
While those videos may have amused and shocked visitors to the Sunshine State, the truth is that there are numerous bear sightings in the state . Part of that is due to the extensive presence that American black bears have in the state with a range that extends from the northwestern Panhandle near Pensacola and down the Peninsula all the way to the Everglades. A look at reported sightings shows that the densest populations occur in the Panhandle, in central Florida and in the southwestern corner of the state.
Florida black bears are smaller than their cousins in the Smoky Mountains, out West in the Rockies and up north in Canada. In Florida, FWC biologists indicate that adult black bears typically tip the scales around 250 to 350 pounds, although one adult male specimen weighed in at a huge 760 pounds. Adult female bears in Florida are smaller, typically weighing between 130 and 180 pounds, although one robust sow once tipped the scale at 460 pounds.
How Common are Bear/Human Incidents? Bear/human contact incidents aren't commonplace in Florida, averaging a small number per year. To date (May 2025), there has been only one other documented report of a human/bear encounter. That occurred in Marion County near Silver Springs on Feb. 15, 2025 when an individual with a dog encountered an adult female bear with a cub.
There were two bear/human contact incidents in the state in 2024, both involving dogs and both happening later in the year (Nov. 13 and Dec. 20). In 2023, FWC reports that there were three such bear/human contacts, one in the spring, two in the fall, and all three involving dogs.
There were eight bear/human contact incidents in 2022, scattered from January to September that year and all involving a dog. The FWC data base shows that during the past decade, there were no bear/human contact incidents in 2021; only two in 2020; two in 2019; three in 2018; two in 2017; one in 2016; and three in 2015.
Dating back to 2006 (where FWC’s bear/human contact data ends), and pending the outcome of this week's investigation, there have been 42 bear/human physical contact incidents for an average of 1.68 such incidents in Florida per year. It's worth noting here that dogs were involved in the past 15 such incidents and a total of at least 22 times out of the 42 incidents noted above.
It's also worth noting that in at least 20 of the cases dating back to 2006, an adult female with cubs has been involved in the incident, possibly causing the female to perceive the dog as a threat to her cubs and escalating the encounter. In four such cases back to 2006, the bear was an adult male and in 16 of those cases, it is unknown whether the bear was a male or female.
Statistically speaking, such encounters most frequently occur in the northeastern part of the state with Seminole County having nine such encounters from 2006 to 2025. Also in the northeastern part of the state, Marion County has had six such encounters (including the February incident this year) while Volusia County has had the same number of six encounters since 2006.
In the southwestern portion of Florida, Collier County—where Monday's incident took place—has two previous bear/human physical contact cases including one near Naples in 2008 and another near Naples in 2018. That number may rise to three depending on the outcome of this week’s investigation.
Proposed Florida Bear Hunting Hunting bears in Florida is also complicated as the state has grown, with regulated hunting occurring from the 1930s until the season was closed in 1994. Hunting remained closed from 1994 until 2015, when the season was reopened for one year. There have been no open bear hunting seasons since 2015 according to FWC.
The opportunity to hunt black bears may return to Floridians later this year, however. The Tallahassee Democrat's James Call and others reported last month that FWC is proposing a three week long bear hunt in December that would allow for the harvest of 187 bears across 31 Florida counties. If the proposed season is approved, permits will reportedly be awarded through a random drawing.
That stems from an update on bear management and research efforts last December, when the FWC's Bear Management Program gave FWC Commissioners a 5-year update on implementing the agency's 2019 Florida Black Bear Management Plan . Afterwards, the Commissioners instructed FWC to return to a future meeting to propose options for implementing a potential bear hunt.
The aim of commissioners with that instruction is to ensure that the species population numbers are balanced with suitable habitat, while also providing the public with a recreational and economic benefit. It is important to understand, however, that if Commissioners do decide to re-open regulated bear hunting, it is for resource management reasons and will not manage bear/human physical contacts.
As you might expect, there are Floridians in favor of this potential season reopening, and certainly some against it. Whether or not this week's incident near Naples fuels more to support such a hunt remains to be seen.
