A bear, apparently thirsty and hungry, made an unexpected visit to a Florida backyard.
Over the weekend, a black bear slipped into a homeowner’s property, helped itself to an alcoholic beverage and rummaged through the trash for a meal.
The animal entered through an unlocked gate and wandered onto Naples resident Celine Emerson’s back patio, WSVN reported.
“I turned around and saw the refrigerator was open, and I was like, I yelled at my husband, you know, ‘Can you check the cameras?’” Emerson told the local station.
She soon spotted the furry visitor and estimated that it appeared to stand about 6 feet tall.
“Oh, it was just crazy, it was so unusual to see it, like, so close to us,” Emerson recalled.
“It was a little scary seeing him out here, and then when he stood up, he looked pretty tall, like 6 feet,” she added.
Before taking a drink from the outdoor refrigerator, the bear had spent time eating trash in Emerson’s front yard.
“It ate the trash in the front yard for 30 minutes. I figured he was thirsty,” Emerson joked.
The following morning, Emerson found evidence of the visit: a large paw print left on her kitchen counter.
After the unexpected break-in, the Naples homeowner said she has learned that it may be time to start keeping the gate closed.
“We don’t close it when we leave, come and go at nighttime,” she admitted.
“So maybe that, as our granddaughter gets older, obviously, you know, we’re going to be a little more cautious with things like that,” Emerson said.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says bears generally eat more during the fall to build fat reserves before winter hibernation, a behavior that can result in more encounters with people.
Black bears live in several parts of Florida, where the species has an estimated population of about 4,000.