Bear caught in Florida mobile home park

EAST NAPLES, Fla. - A Florida black bear was captured at an East Naples mobile home park early Tuesday morning.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission set the trap Monday after getting several complaints about a bear at Enchanting Shores, east of Collier Boulevard and south of U.S. 41 East.

The bear had been getting into garbage in the past week and was starting to get closer to homes and peering into windows, Conservation Commission spokeswoman Gabriella Ferraro said.

"It was becoming more bold and fearless," she said. "Obviously it was time for us to go in there."

The 420-pound adult male bear was relocated further east to the Picayune Strand State Forest.

The Conservation Commission is working with the mobile home park to bear-proof their neighborhood with electric fencing or community garbage bins.

Florida black bears have been listed as a threatened species since 1974, but the population is on the rebound.

Scientists estimate between 2,200 and 3,400 black bears roam Florida, up from as few as 300 in the 1970s.

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