As one of the newest board members of “FWF,” I recently I met Jay Exum, board chair of the Florida Wildlife Federation (http://fwfonli4.w20.wh-2.com/site). Jay lives in Seminole County, just north of Orlando and one of his specialties is bears. Recently, I witnessed his over-the-top bear photographs, particularly the ones of bears hanging in trees like Christmas balls; I asked if I could share the photos on by blog. Jay was happy to do such, and that is why I entitled this post “Jay Exum’s Bears.”
Perhaps for people who live in Central Florida Jay’s photos are no bear-big-deal, but for me, where the last black bear in our region was killed in 1926 on Hutchinson Island by Captain Billy Pitchford, these photos are absolutely amazing. Black bears, of course, used to live throughout Florida. I know that there are concerns with bear/human interaction, but my heart always goes out to the bears. And in the case of Billy Pitchford’s Martin County bear, that bear was just trying to get the honey. Isn’t that what we’re all trying to do? The best way forward for bears, and for people, is to continue to create and connect Florida’s wildlife corridors.
Enjoy!
Jay’s comments:
Mother and Cubs
Living with bears!
Links:
FWC: https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/wildlife/bear/numbers/
FWC2: https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/wildlife/bear/
Orlando Sentinel,2014:”Bearlando:”http://interactive.orlandosentinel.com/bears/index.html
Washington Post 2015: “Florida Bear Hunt:”https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/10/29/298-bears-killed-in-florida-hunt-that-ignored-science/?utm_term=.c176425b096b
Other post on subject JTL:
https://jacquithurlowlippisch.com/tag/hutchison-island-black-bears/
https://jacquithurlowlippisch.com/tag/controversies-of-bear-hunting-florida/
Investment FLORIDA WILDLIFE CORRIDORS, or greenways, is the best way to help bears and other wildlife move through out their needed range even as Florida will continue to develop. We don’t want to live in a shopping mall; we want to keep parts of Florida wild.
very interesting JTL!!! Love it…
On Fri, Feb 1, 2019 at 1:40 PM Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch wrote:
> Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch posted: ” As one of the newest board members of > “FWF,” I recently I met Jay Exum, board chair of the Florida Wildlife > Federation (http://fwfonli4.w20.wh-2.com/site). Jay lives in Seminole > County, just north of Orlando and one of his specialties is bears. R” >
I wrote the governor and asked him to appoint you to SWFMD.
You are awesome! Thank you!!!🐻
Thx Nic!🐻
Awesome Black Bear shots. I saw three Black Bears up close on three different hikes. I saw two Mountain Lions while driving one on
Alpine Meadows Rd and one at the summit of CA 108 Sonora Pass at 10,000′ above sea level, when I lived in Tahoe Vista, CA.
Awesome!!!!!
Bears are honey grabbers — politicians are money grabbers — In the bible –mathew 6-21 where your treasure is –is where your heart will be. There are far too many money grabbers involved in this. For me –and others–it has taken a lot of money , time and TLC to turn things around and restore the lagoon. For others–its not about the lagoon–its about uncontroled greed.