When we first set out to live in Florida, we expected wildlife someone from Ohio would assume, the stereotypical animals. There would likely be alligators in the lakes, and there are definitely snakes, and there are small lizards that turn bright green, and we would encounter large birds like herons and pelicans.
But no one told us to look out for black bears. In the Panhandle, you're basically in Alabama, more so in a pine forest than in the tropics. But still, black bears?
We bought a house on the edge of a forest buffeted by just one other house, and before we had even moved in, one of our new neighbors mentioned in passing, simply in passing like saying "sometimes the trash collectors comes super early in the morning," which is true, "By the way, we have a bear family in the neighborhood, so..."
So? So, what? What does that mean, and how does that affect us, other than requiring we keep our garbage in locked cans?
Our first encounter went like this. One night in October, I was on our screened-in porch with the dog looking out at the yard when I heard a commotion on the other side of the six-foot fence. Neighbor dogs were barking like mad, which sent my dog into a tizzy. More commotion, a stirring of foliage, and right in front of us a bear cub flopped over the top of the fence and landed clumsily in the yard. I yelled, as you can imagine.
Husband came running and caught the fella on camera, and we tracked him as he climbed a pine tree and began bawling. Turns out he was looking for Mama Bear who was waiting for him in our driveway. She had climbed the fence earlier before we could be witness. They were reunited and casually meandered down the street.
I called the non-emergency police number and was transferred to a wildlife agency, and the agent's response was basically, "Well, you moved to an area with bears, so you need to learn to live with them." He mailed us a brochure on how to do that.
Since that first encounter, the mama and cub visited several times in the winter months, always at night and sometimes lingering to play. And a couple of times Big Papa Bear would climb the fence like it was nothing and would hang out by the pool. They will sit on the edge and dangle their feet, and they will pull out the filter baskets looking for frogs or whatnot to eat. Once, Papa Bear stopped by while we were still awake and rolled around in the grass with the dog's squeaky toy until he broke it, and then he climbed back over the fence with one of the other dog toys as a souvenir.
So, this is an answer to the question "what's it like to live there." There be bears, and no one is coming to save you.
#EmeraldCoast #blackbears #Panhandle
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