Community Chat

[KittySoftPaws]

I am a lover of all animals and have been my whole life. I have rescued them, and raised some baby orphans too. It's rewarding for me. Since moving to Florida last year, I have seen many animals I have never seen before, as well as some I have only seen in pictures. One thing I wasn't aware of is that there are black Bears here. The State, and F&W is proposing a hunt on these beautiful animals to 'control' the population, leaving many cubs defenseless. It's terribly sad. What they won't admit is the control is due to so much overdevelopment here that they are losing more and more of their habitat. It's something I have a hard time accepting. There was a statewide protest against this in many cities around Florida today. I attended in my City, and they provided many signs for us to hold on the sidewalk in front of the busy traffic. It was hot, but I am so glad I went. Many people were very receptive and waved, honked and gave us the thumbs up. Most suprising to me was there was a couple of reporters there and a News crew. Well to my suprise, the News crew singled me out on the spot for an interview which will be televised and on the radio. My fifteen minutes of fame. haha!  I surprised myself that I pulled it off so well, and I was told from some of the others there I didn't miss a beat. I feel it was because I was speaking from the heart. I even said in the interview, "Call your Gov. DeSantis office and tell them this is wrong, because remember they work for us!" I pray this hunt won't happen, but I do feel very good that I was there being a voice for them. By the way, you don't need to live here to have a say in this, anyone who wishes to, can sign the petion.

[chessylady]

I heard today that Florida is taking the flouride out of your water. That must have been sponsored by the dentists lobby.

[We rescue cats]

@KittySoftPaws Thank you for speaking up for those who have no voice. We have a huge black bear that comes to visit us a few times a month. We bring in the feeders every evening but not before he destroyed 2 seed feeders and my humming bird feeder.

[Snowpuppy]

I live among black bears too here in Northern MI. Ours aren't typically large at 250-300 lbs.

Being a Big City girl myself it does help to educate people about living with wildlife. 

One thing for sure is that some folk think they're cute! I'll feed them! And sure enough bears come into habited areas and start looking into dumpsters and garbage cans for food instead of letting them forage.

[KittySoftPaws]

@chessylady Actually, from what I have heard, many Dentists are not happy about it and are looking to "supplement" their patients with Flouride. Which is mostly a nasty by-product released into our water, all the while they tell us it's "good for us." Reminds me of the Movie Erin Brokevich. They told those people the hexavalent chromium was "good for them" too. I eliminated it in my toothpaste long ago and we filter all of our drinking water. 

[Kachina624]

@KittySoftPaws.  I heard in a news report yesterday that a bear recently killed a person in your state and attacked and injured another man in his yard as it was attacking his dog.  Yes, probably due to encroaching development, loss of habitat.

What do you propose as a solution?

[kitcat51]

An ederly man & a dog were recently killed by a black bear in Florida so I understand the concern...bears are dangerous, especially if you get between a female & her cubs. 

[KittySoftPaws]

@We rescue cats  How cool! It would make my year to see a beautiful black Bear. But my feeling is they, like us are just trying to survive and take care of their families. We can absolutley co-habitate with them and all other animals. And nature takes care of itself, it doesn't need Man to step in. This whole thing is just a way to justify trophy hunting IMO.

[Kachina624]

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@KittySoftPaws wrote:

@chessylady Actually, from what I have heard, many Dentists are not happy about it and are looking to "supplement" their patients with Flouride. Which is mostly a nasty by-product released into our water, all the while they tell us it's "good for us." Reminds me of the Movie Erin Brokevich. They told those people the hexavalent chromium was "good for them" too. I eliminated it in my toothpaste long ago and we filter all of our drinking water. 

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@KittySoftPaws.  I use extra prescription fluoride toothpaste.  It has cut my frequent cavities to nothing and saved me thousands of dollars.  I've had fluoride treatments with every dental cleaning since childhood.

As far as I can tell it's affected nothing but cavaties.   I'm a big believer.

[KittySoftPaws]

@Kachina624  A tragedy for sure. The Man with the Dog was biten, that's it. So one has to ask, if you felt threatened and you had children what would you do? They are doing what is instictive to all of us. The solution is to keep your trash, and animals contained. it's not a solution to kill off the Bears. For that matter, two people were killed recently in the Kissimee by Alligators. Again, very sad abnd a tragedy. They were on canoes in a River during mating season. Should we destroy the Gators as well? The bear hunt IMO is a total land grab under the guise of "safety control" by which developers are responsible for to begin with.