Video: Black bear spotted in downtown St. Augustine
Bear wanders through St. Augustine
A bear was seen wandering through a St. Augustine neighborhood a day after a man and his dog were killed by a bear in Southwest Florida.
ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. - A black bear was caught on camera wandering around downtown St. Augustine early Tuesday morning.
Video captured the animal climbing over a wall and moseying on a sidewalk toward what appears to be a garbage can.
According to the St. Augustine Police Department, the bear was wandering through a secluded area in the Lincolnville neighborhood.
A black bear was seen in downtown St. Augustine this week. Image is courtesy of the St. Augustine Police Department.
What they're saying:
In a social media post, police wrote, "Please use caution if you encounter this bear! It is important to keep a respectful distance and never run. Black bears prefer to avoid people and will usually move on quickly."
The bear was spotted a day after an 89-year-old man and his dog were killed in Southwest Florida, marking the first deadly bear attack in the state since records have been kept.
Black bear attacks on humans
By the numbers:
There are about 750,000 black bears in North America, but attacks on humans are rare, with black bears killing less than one person per year on average.
About 4,000 black bears live in Florida, according to wildlife officials.
Monday's deadly bear attack is the first in Florida since FWC began tracking bear encounters.
Dig deeper:
There have now been at least two bear attacks in Florida since last week. A woman in Sanford was attacked outside her home while walking her dog, and said she used a bag of cookies as a distraction to get to safety.
RELATED: Florida woman uses bag of cookies to escape bear attack near home
For a closer look at bear encounters in Florida, click here.
Will there be a bear hunt in Florida?
Earlier this year, FWC asked for public input on a potential black bear hunt, holding a series of public meetings in early April.
Plans call for a hunt in December 2025 to kill 187 of Florida's 4,000 black bears.
It’d be a first for the state since 2015, when overwhelming enthusiasm from hunters prompted officials to close the bear hunting season after just 48 hours because hunters had already surpassed the set limit of animals permitted to be killed.
The Source: Information for this story was gathered from the St. Augustine Police Department and by FOX 13's Mariah Harrison, with additional details from previous FOX 13 News reports.