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Bear breaks into Florida family’s home, eats Easter chocolates

FT. MYERS-NAPLES, FL – Call it a reverse Goldilocks scenario. A Florida homeowner woke up last week to find a black bear in her kitchen. The bear enjoyed a swee...
Black-bear-thinkstock

FT. MYERS-NAPLES, FL – Call it a reverse Goldilocks scenario. A Florida homeowner woke up last week to find a black bear in her kitchen. The bear enjoyed a sweet treat then showed up to the home again on Saturday.

“Everybody is buzzing about it,” said Bella Terra resident Dennis Anderson.

All the commotion started Friday morning. Caroline Tidwell woke up to what she thought was her husband getting ready for work.

“It almost sounded like the Venetian blinds were off track,” she said.

Turns out it was a black bear. A 300 to 400 pounds black bear

“He was making slobbering noises and bear noises,” Tidwell said.

Tidwell feared the bear was eating one of her cats. They were safe, however; hiding on top of the kitchen cabinets. The hungry animal must have a sweet tooth. It was after the family’s Easter chocolate.

“I could have literally reached out and touched him,” Tidwell said. “I said, ‘There’s a bear in the house, I’m not joking. Wake up right now!’”

The commotion scared the bear away, only for a day. On Saturday morning, it showed up again.

“We opened the window and just banged on the pot and said, ‘Go away bear,’ and he went away,” Tidwell said.

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), bear sightings are typical this time of year. Springtime means bears are hungry. And they’ll take what they can get; even it’s a bowl of chocolates in your living room.

“Very blessed and very lucky because this could’ve been a lot worse,” Tidwell said.

The FWC has proposed that about 275 black bears be killed in mid-October. Officials want to reduce the risk of dangerous interactions between bears and humans. The state could open its first black bear hunting season in two decades under a set of new rules, which are expected to be reviewed next week.

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