In the pre-1998 days of the Gulf Breeze-Navarre Area, folks would
simply handle the Bear problem quietly...Shoot, Shovel, & Shaddap.
As things grew beyond the quiet little area it was, into a very busy
area with lots of people, it became far more difficult for regular
folks to "Handle it themselves".

However, since it came to FWC's attention that there was still a lot
more Bear Dis-appearances than reported kills, they went with a hunt
so they would actually get data, instead of getting very little data at all.

Auto strikes only account for a few dozen bear deaths in Florida a year.
So when a collared bear goes POOF, they know it either ran into a
python or a peeved off Floridian. If the collar is found in
python poo, they know exactly what happened. If a collar
disappears in an area they just had a few nuisance reports
at, then the reports end...then know what happened there
too, but are unlikely to be able to prove it since the bear's
usually 6'+ under the ground...

All in all, it's better when FWC handles it
They get the data, relocate or finalize the bear, and the tourists are happy!

Miss the old days several years ago we had a couple of bucks quartered and on ice in a 100+ quart cooler. Had 12 gage wire wrapped around the cooler and the cooler was on top of a picnic table with a nightlight shining on it. Damn bear got every scrap of meat and got away with it
Edited to add growing up in the 60-70’s we never saw gators but now there’s lots of small ones and I’ve seen 4 or 5 that are huge. I was tied up fishing when I saw one lunge up out of the river to get a large turtle (25-35 lb.s) off a tree hanging out over the river. Gator came at least 2’ out of the water, and was gone. I moved down river to a slough and saw one flipper from the turtle that was bigger than my hand at the mouth of the slough and thought crap this is where the gators den is. I hooked a hard right to the shallow side of the slough and spun the boat around to get out of there. That’s when we all saw the gator leaving that slough. About 12 feet long and every bit of 30 inches across the back.

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For the people mentioning Holley shores I've got a buddy off buckeye and the bears are so bad they have dual sash locks on their garbage cans and the garbage man has a key.