The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is releasing a new black bear curriculum and officials say it fits right into the state’s new education standards. The program aims at teaching kids about black bears while pairing that with math, science and reading lessons.
Fish and Wildlife officials say a person living in North Florida has a pretty good chance of bumping into a black bear and Black Bear Management Coordinator David Telesco says that’s one reason it’s important to start teaching residents about black bears at a young age.
“We think it’s important that when a student sees a bear or someone sees a bear in a community that folks know a little about it because the worst that can happen is that people start guessing about what that means when there’s a bear and what they should do,” Teleso says.
Telesco says part of the curriculum includes lessons on how to act when a bear is around. He says the information is available for free online.
