A bear sighting on WIllowick Drive in North Naples brought the Collier County Sheriff's Office and Florida Fish and Wildlife officers to the neighborhood, where neighbors say the bears were unusually active Thursday morning.
"They had apparently gotten into our trash can," said Julie Foss, who was woken up around 4 a.m. when her dog barked at the bears in her yard.
"And the bears did get startled and hide in the tree," Foss added.
She said another neighbor called the sheriff's office, but deputies didn't realize the bears had climbed her next-door neighbor's tree. After they climbed down, the bears didn't just go back to the woods.
"They were pretty frantic and moving around the neighborhood a lot," Foss said. "And it was the time of morning that the kids were coming to the bus stop, so it definitely is a concern. But they're not aggressive."
FWC's Dave Telesco said people need to give a bear with her cubs plenty of space.
"With a female with young, she has to make sure her young can get away too," Telesco said. "You have to give her a wider berth so that she doesn't feel uncomfortable."
Foss said the FWC officer who responded to the bear sighting tried to scare them back to the woods.
In January, a bear attacked and clawed a man's face at Amberton Townhomes, about four miles from Willowick Drive. Foss makes sure her children know to keep a safe distance from any bears.
"We try to educate the kids and make sure that they're aware that they know to always be on the lookout," she said. "And if they see a bear, to get back inside and not try to pester it."
FWC officials urge people to use extra caution when walking their dogs in areas where bears have been sighted, since bears see them as more of a threat than humans.
