Recently, a beautiful black bear wandered into a Palm Beach, Florida neighborhood. It's unsurprising that it found itself there -- habitat loss has dramatically altered where so many wild animals are able to live, roam, eat, and play these days! The bear was spotted by a woman as it climbed up and down trees, as bears do. Eventually authorities arrived, and surrounded the tree that the bear had ended up in, attempting to keep it from climbing back down. But while waiting for tranquilizers and trappers to arrive, authorities shot the bear to death anyway.
The local police claim that they waited for several hours for a trapper or tranquilizer, and simply had to "make a difficult decision." But that is no excuse when the life of an animal is at stake. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission must have better protocol in place to address these instances and get local authorities the resources they need as quickly as possible. Sign now to tell Florida officials: stop using lethal methods on animals in non-violent situations like this one!
