Black Bear Shot, Killed While Roaming South FL Neighborhood: Palm Beach County Sheriff

ROYAL PALM BEACH, FL — A black bear was shot and killed by deputies while it climbed trees and roamed around a Royal Palm Beach neighborhood Saturday, according to a Facebook post by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies and officers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission responded to reports of a large black bear, about 6-foot tall and 300 pounds, “hanging around” an area off Crestwood Boulevard in the Saratoga Lakes development, the agency said.

A resident in the 100 block of Belmont Drive told deputies that she, her husband and their three children were inside their home when they heard a dog bark. They went outside and saw the black bear inside their covered back porch - an area where their kids normally play - about five feet from the sliding back door.

The bear walked around the outside of the home, climbed a tall tree, and then came down and continued walking around the area, the sheriff’s office said. The animal later climbed another tall tree in the 900 block of Crestwood Boulevard, while deputies and FWC officers secured the area and kept traffic moving.

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PBSO’s drone unit responded and helped locate the bear, who was seen coming out of the bushes and climbing another large pine tree about 50 feet high. The bear stayed in the tree while FWC officers stood at the bottom to make sure it didn’t climb down.

After waiting several hours for FWC to provide a bear trapper or tranquilizer, “we were faced with a very difficult decision” when the bear began to climb down the tree around 12:30 p.m., the sheriff’s office said.

Deputies and FWC officers made loud noises hoping the bear would climb back up the tree, but the animal was restless, and deputies shot it.

“Unfortunately, the bear had no place to roam safely,” PBSO said. “The incident location and surrounding area are residential neighborhoods and fearing the bear would roam into the residential communities and pose a further risk to the community, we were faced with the incredibly difficult decision to discharge our firearm, striking the bear, for the sake of public safety. Sadly, the bear passed away.”

The FWC has disputed the sheriff’s office’s account of the incident. The state agency told WPBF that deputies weren’t forced to shoot the bear and there was no trapper involved, as their officers thought it was best to wait for the animal to leave the area.

"In this instance, we were not waiting for a trapper since FWC staff determined the best approach was to let the bear leave the area on its own," agency spokeswoman Arielle Callender said.

Some residents in the area are upset by the bear’s death.

“We want some answers. Why was it necessary to kill a helpless bear that up in a tree that was no threat at that time? We have Lion Country Safari. You have FWC. You have Palm Beach Zoo,” Maria Young told CBS 12. “You (have) many vets out here. Why could they not find a dart, to go ahead and tranquilize it with. It doesn’t make any sense to me.”

"It's miscommunication to the point we lost a beautiful animal for no reason whatsoever," Tim Harrison told WPTV. "We need to get to a point where everybody unifies up. Everybody is on the same page. You're gonna have bears. It's Florida. They should have more training in this."