Residents of Kirkwood neighborhood received an unusual visitor this week: a black bear.
For the last two days, it’s been wandering in south Gainesville near the subdivision, located between South Main and Southwest 13th streets, said Officer Ben Tobias, the spokesman for Gainesville Police Department.
“The latest on the bear is that he’s still on the loose,” he said.
So far the bear hasn’t posed an immediate danger to anyone, but it will probably stick around the area, he said.
“He’s probably not going to be going anywhere, since that’s the place he found a bite to eat,” Tobias said.
On Thursday, the bear knocked down a bird feeder, valued at about $100, in Betty Schelske’s yard in the 2000 block of Southwest Ninth Drive.
According to a GPD incident report, the incident occurred at about 9 a.m.
Although she did not see it happen, Schelske, 77, said it must have jumped over her fence to get in, according to the report.
GPD is coordinating with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, Tobias said, and the agency will take responsibility once it can pinpoint the animal.
“It’s basically going to be their show whenever we can get him in a particular area,” he said.
The bear sightings made a splash on Twitter as residents posted thoughts and jokes about it using the hashtags #Gainesvillebear and #yogi.
On Thursday, @KassidyHill tweeted, “The first person to tackle the bear gets an automatic bid from Muschamp.”
Tweets from the handle @GainesvilleBea1 began to appear Thursday.
One read, “Yes I poop in the woods.”
Tobias joked about the bear’s tweets.
“I’m happy he’s created a Twitter account,” he said. “That means the lines of communication are open.”
Contact Kelcee Griffis at kgriffis@alligator.org.
