A Florida woman screamed and ran back inside her door after she came face to face with a black bear outside her home overnight Thursday in an incident that was caught on her Ring video doorbell camera.
Gina Helsel said she was taking her puppy outside her Daytona Beach home around 3 a.m., because the nine-month-old goldendoodle was barking at something outside.
"I thought there were just cats on the porch because there’s always just cats on the porch," Helsel told FOX 35. "So I’m like I’m going to take him and let him bark at the cats, and we can sleep the rest of the night. But I got a surprise. Yogi was out there."
Helsel said she is always watching out for snakes and alligators, but not bears.
"We have a lot of wildlife here. I didn’t expect it to be at my front door," she admitted.
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Mike Orlando, a bear program lead manager with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), told FOX 35 that the bear had probably been continually stopping by her house since she moved in five years ago.
He advised keeping trash inside to not attract bears who rummage through cans as fall approaches to bulk up for winter.
"If they can find something that holds their interest — cat food, garbage, birdseed — they're going to stop and they're going to take advantage of that easy meal because those have high calories," he said.
FWC also recommends making noise and flashing porch lights before opening your door at night to avoid meeting a bear.
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"I’ve never been scared like that before," Helsel added. "It was terrifying. All I can remember thinking was ‘I’m glad I’m half asleep because if I were wide awake, I’d probably be having a heart attack at this point.’"
