This story has a downright tragic ending. A bear wandered into a Florida man’s home and when it became trapped in his bathroom he shot it repeatedly until it died. Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Commission offered some tips on how other folks can stay out of the same situation.
Zeke Clark lives just 40 miles north of Orlando. He admits he doesn’t live in the middle of nowhere, but adds that there’s a wooded area nearby where he expects the black bear came from. Note that a male black bear can have a 250 square mile range and will travel far to feed on unsecured trash.
Clark guesses the black bear wandered into his home through an open garage door. Then the “door shut behind him.”
A trapped black bear panics
The bear was understandably panicked after finding itself trapped in a human house. “You can tell bear freaked out that a bunch of damage in here because he couldn’t get out.” Finally, the bear discovered an exit from the garage–into the house. And he brute-forced his way through. “Bent this door. Got this door open.”
I’m not sure how the family inside the home didn’t hear the incredible commotion in the garage. But it wasn’t until the bear emerged into the house that anyone realized something was wrong. Clark says his mother-in-law was sitting in the living room and began screaming. His dogs began barking. The overwhelmed and scared bear panicked. It ran down the hallway and through the only open door: into the bathroom.
This would have been a great time to evacuate the family and call FWC so professionals could take care of the animal. Clark called the situation “Pure fear for me.” He slammed the bathroom door shut, got a gun, and tried to shoot the bear through the door. That didn’t do much.
A Florida man panics
Here’s how Clark described the kill on CBS News: “I was able to get the door back open again. Shot one time inside the bathroom. Shut the door again because bear [was] trying to get back out. And then finished [it] by shooting two more times.”
A bear carcass with four bullet holes must have made quite the mess. Clark managed to roll it onto a tarp and drag it outside. Then he finally handed the problem over to the FWC.
The FWC explains, “The presence of bears is not necessarily a problem or a threat to your safety.” Why? The black bears native to Florida are not hunters. But they are scavengers. “Problems arise when bears gain access to food sources such as pet foods, garbage, barbecue grills, bird seed or even livestock feed.” The suburbs, with ample garbage cans and other food sources, are hard for bears to ignore. A bear that discovers a consistent food source will often disregard its natural fear of humans. And that can turn into a deadly situation.
After this incident, the FWC says its “Bear Management staff will canvass the community for awareness and education, as well as monitor the area for additional bear activity of concern.” Maybe everyone in the neighborhood can start by keeping their garage doors closed.
