- Bears are being seen in neighborhoods in Gadsden County.
- They are tearing up yards and digging into trash
- See the video above to hear what experts say to do if you encounter one.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT
Neighbors in Gadsden County are are seeing an increase in bear sightings.
I'm Ashley Engle in Midway. On your screen you will see a bear cub walking in a family's driveway just a few days ago. This isn't the only time this has happened. I met one neighbor who says he's been seeing them for years.
"Well BooBoo is his name and I've been here for about 15 or so years and we've been seeing him for 15 years."
Neighbors including Tony Slater in Rustling Pines have been posting on the next-door app about so called "Booboo, Yogi" and other bears lurking in the neighborhood.
"Booboo is the younger one and Yogi is the older one because I been seeing yogi too"
Complaints ranged from destroying yards and getting into the trash.
I did some digging myself. Florida, Fish and Wildlife says bears are driven by their need to eat. They've got a sense of smell that can detect odors over a mile away. Problems happen when bears get into food sources such as pet foods, garbage, barbecue grills, bird seed or even livestock feed.
Tony saw a bear in his backyard when he came home from work a few weeks ago.
"I pull up and I was like 'oh my God, its Booboo.' I was like 'man Booboo in my trash.' So I pull up and my music was loud enough that it scared him and he ran away and everything."
If you see a bear, make sure you are in a safe area and the bear has an escape route. FWC recommends you to scare that bear.
You want to let the bear know it is not welcome in your yard. From a safe location, scare it away by yelling, banging pots and pans, using an air horn, or anything else that makes a lot of noise.
"He not gonna mess with no body he just wanna eat I guess so now I just put my trash out the morning of instead the Sunday before."
FWC says to secure household garbage in a shed, garage or a wildlife-resistant container and to put household garbage out on morning of pickup rather than the night before. In Midway, I'm Ashley Engle, ABC 27.
