Posted on 06/11/2018 7:35:14 PM PDT by SJackson
FORT MYERS, Fla. (WLS) -- A bear wandering near a Fort Myers, Florida school on Monday has been caught and relocated.
WZVN reports the black bear was hanging around an apartment complex with a school just a block away. The school was put on lockdown as a precaution- no one was hurt. But it is unusual to see a black bear so close to downtown. With a little help from waffles, syrup and wildlife officials...he was tracked down in hours.
"He was hopping around and he was having a good time. He didn't want to go," said Brittani Morgan. "I seen a big cage from all the way over there where I live," said Morgan's daughter.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) says the black bear is a yearling male, meaning he's older than one and able to sustain himself away from his mother. But clearly, he was hungry for a sweet breakfast. Neighbors watched as the trappers lured the bear into a cage.
"They got a box of waffles in this container and they stashed the waffles inside the container and threw it into the cage," said Morgan.
"That's smart. I wouldn't have thought about that," said Rycky Garcia who lives in a nearby apartment complex.
There were no reports of injuries or property damage to the apartment complex, and WZVN found out it's likely we'll be seeing more bears in our area over the next few months because June kicks off black bear mating season -- which means more bears are out and about.
"Exciting morning, yup. I wasn't expecting to wake up and come out my house to see a bear, bears in the hood," said Garcia.
FWC says there are about 4,000 bears in Florida and trappers will be releasing this guy back into the wild.
Statewide, FWC received 6,226 bear-related calls in 2017.
In the south unit, which includes Lee and Collier counties, FWC received 584 bear related calls over the same time.
Video at source.
It wasn’t the waffles.
It was the syrup.
Yogi Bear: “Let go my Eggo!!”
Was he hopping around the IHOP?
“These waffles are juuust...” *Clang!*
Later they released the guy?
How do they know it was a guy? Maybe it was a mom and she was coming to get food for her cubs.
It said in the article that it was a male.
.
Yah. I’ll bet they wouldn’t have been so reactionary had it been a white female bear.
50 years ago everyone here burned their garbage in open barrels, no bears for 20 miles. Then they passed a law prohibiting burning garbage. They said put in in these big garbage bins. Guess what - all the bears come down from the high mountains into the villages and right into the garbage bins. Idiots in govt.
Hahahaha...I didn’t look a the picture, just posted the HTML and thought it said “We’re doing Waffles!” but...I have only the vaguest idea of what that graphic was about! My memory tells me it was a burglar who broke into a house, ate the muffins they had, drank their whiskey and was passed out cold when the family came home!
I think...
Bears will chew off grey water valves on trailers when they smell some detergents. Guys who bait for bears like old donuts, cinnamon rolls, out dated fruit pies etc. my wife works in a bread store out dated goods are favorites with hog farmers and bear baiters. Cows love regular old bread.
I understand that the same technique often works on Michael Moore...
They would work on wild seruzawas too. Lol.
I make peanut butter and honey sandwiches to catch coons.
Detergents?
I can see coons and bears going for the sweets. Sweet corn in season draws raccoons like a magnet. Both animals are omnivours and will eat just about any and everything. Crawdads and fresh water oysters are racoon fine dining.
Ivory dish soap. smell it sometime. A fish and game officer said it’ll draw the bear to a camper. Seen one in a trap in Yellowstone that like barbecued spare ribs. Trapped it at Canyon Villiage. Mad as hell about being in the trap too.
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