(Photo Courtesy of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission)

The plan was to relocate a black bear from Alligator Point, a waterfront community about 40 miles south of Tallahassee. Plans soon changed as the 375-pound black bear—shot with a tranquilizer—fled for the Gulf.

“I wasn’t sure what I was going to do when I jumped in,” said state biologist Adam Warwick. “It was a spur of the moment decision. I had a lot of adrenaline pumping when I saw the bear in the water.”

The tranquilizer dart took longer than expected to take effect, and allowed the black bear to swim 25 yards out into the ocean. Warwick knew this bear wouldn’t be able to swim the four miles to mainland.

“At that point, I decided to go in after the bear,” Warwick said. “I wanted to keep him from swimming into deeper water.” He latched onto it after “the bear reared up on his hind legs as if to lunge at [Warwick], but instead fell straight backward and submerged.”

Warwick kept one arm underneath the bear and the other gripping the scruff of its neck to keep the bear’s head above water. Warwick used the bear’s own buoyancy to pull it to shore. “It’s a lot easier to drag a bear in four feet of water than to move him on dry land,” he said.

Thad Brett saw the rescue unfold from his house nearby, and drove his backhoe down to assist. Brett, a general contractor, was using the backhoe for work on his house.

“I knew how hard it would be to get that bear out,” Brett said. “I could see he was about waist-deep in the water, and I came down with the backhoe.”

After the bear was loaded into the truck, the bear was relocated by Warwick and FWC’s Ron Copley to the Osceola National Forest near Lake City.

The bear was roaming through the waterfront neighborhood Tuesday, June 24, where Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) personnel first found the bear underneath a house. FWC is adamant bears in neighborhoods can be prevented by “securing garbage cans and other sources of food that might attract bears.” For the complete story, visit myfwc.com/whatsnew/08/statewide/News_08_X_BearRescue.htm.