A Gulf Breeze man’s ordinary night turned into a living nightmare when he came face-to-face with a bear in his own backyard while trying to protect his dog.
This shocking encounter is the latest in a string of dangerous bear incidents rocking the Sunshine State.
And a bear attack forced a Florida man to make a split-second decision that left him fighting for his life.
The 911 call from this terrifying attack reveals the harrowing moments that followed.
“I need an ambulance, I need – I just got bit by a bear in my backyard,” the frantic 45-year-old man told Santa Rosa County dispatchers. “It tried to attack my dog. I went to rescue my dog, and it bit me in my leg.”
The early morning incident took place in a Gulf Breeze neighborhood when a homeowner went outside after hearing his dog in distress.
County records show the emergency call coming from the 1500 block of Joseph Circle in the Midway/Gulf Breeze area around 2 a.m. Thursday, after the man let his pet into his fenced yard.
As the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) confirmed, the man heard his dog yelp and went to investigate.
That’s when he came face-to-face with the wild animal that had somehow entered his yard.
“It bit my leg, my left leg, my whole left leg,” the victim desperately explained to 911 operators. “He charged me again after he bit me. I kicked him in the face, and I ran as fast as I could in the house.”
A security camera in the neighborhood caught footage of bears in the area shortly before the incident happened.
This video evidence, captured on a neighbor’s Ring camera, showed two bears handling trash bags in the vicinity, suggesting they were looking for food when the encounter occurred.
A neighbor just houses away from the attack site witnessed the bears roaming the neighborhood shortly before the incident.
“They came in front of my house, first the big mama bear,” neighbor Atti Cseh told local media. “Then she turned back, she was checking on the baby, and they came this way and knocked the trash can out, and they were looking for food.”
First responders transported the injured man to a local hospital.
Fortunately, he is expected to recover from his injuries.
FWC plans to euthanize the bear if captured
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission immediately responded to the incident, investigating the property and the surrounding area.
Despite the bear fleeing the scene after the attack, officials aren’t taking any chances.
Wildlife officials have announced their plan for handling the bear.
The FWC stated in a news release that “Bear Management staff will place a trap on the property to capture the bear involved.
Following the FWC’s Human-Bear Conflict Response Policies and Guidelines, this bear will be humanely killed, if captured, in the interest of protecting the public.”
Wildlife officials explained their reasoning on relocation.
“According to the agency, relocation is not a viable option with a bear that has become a public safety risk, as relocated bears could move on to put another community at risk,” the FWC said in their statement.
The decision comes as tensions mount between Florida’s growing bear population and expanding residential communities.
Second bear attack in two weeks rocks Florida
This terrifying incident comes just days after authorities found 89-year-old Robert Markel and his dog deceased following a bear attack on his property near Jerome, a small unincorporated community 30 miles east of Naples.
It is the first time a bear has killed a human in recorded Florida history, FWC confirmed.
The attack was discovered after Markel’s granddaughter called 911 when she witnessed a bear kill her father’s dog.
When authorities searched the property, they found Markel’s body about 100 yards from his deceased dog.
The FWC responded by setting up traps in the area, installing cameras, and euthanizing three bears found nearby.
DNA samples from these bears have been sent to the University of Florida for testing to determine which animal was responsible.
Bear-human encounters on the rise as hunting debate intensifies
The recent attacks have fueled an already contentious debate about reinstating an annual bear hunt in Florida.
Nuisance bear calls increased from 2,000 in 2016 to more than 6,000 in 2024, according to the FWC.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is currently considering a proposal to reinstate an annual and regulated bear hunt.
The 31 pages of rules include a 23-day bear season this December and, starting in 2026, annual bear hunting between the first of October and the end of December.
“As the bear population grows and development occurs, we are probably going to see more bears move into developed areas. So that’s one reason we want to try to manage bear population growth,” Morgan Richardson, the FWC’s director of hunting and game management, explained.
The Florida black bear, a distinct subspecies of the American black bear, was listed as a threatened species as recently as 2012.
The population had dwindled to about 500 in the mid-1970s and has rebounded to an estimated 4,000 today.
However, wildlife advocates and environmental groups strongly oppose the hunt, arguing that the proposal relies on outdated population data from 2015.
“It is outdated data. This proposal was advanced and inspired by the appointees on the commission, not the scientists, not the agency staff,” James C. Scott of Speak Up for Wildlife, said.
Public opinion seems to align with the opposition.
An April Naples Daily News poll, taken before the Collier bear attack, showed 92% opposing the hunt with 8% in favor.
How to reduce human-bear conflicts
The FWC’s Bear Management Program emphasizes prevention as the best approach to reduce human-bear encounters.
They recommend removing or securing all food attractants from around houses and yards, including garbage, pet food, and bird seed.
“If a bear is not able to find food, it will move on,” an FWC statement explained. “Feeding bears can make them lose their natural fear of people.”
For Gulf Breeze residents living near the recent attack, these precautions have taken on new urgency.
One neighbor noted that bear sightings in the area are not uncommon.
“Every year we have bears come through,” he said. “Twice I’ve actually had them tear the fence down and tear the fence down again to get out.”
The FWC encourages residents to contact their Wildlife Alert Hotline at 888-404-FWCC (3922) if they feel threatened by a bear, observe a sick, injured, dead, or orphaned bear, or need to report someone harming bears or intentionally feeding them.
As Florida grapples with managing its growing bear population and expanding human development, the debate over how best to protect both people and wildlife continues to intensify.
