A Central Florida homeowner pulled out his phone when a large black bear appeared across the street from his Lockhart home — but it didn’t take long for him to decide the encounter was better viewed from indoors.
“I ain’t playin’. I don’t play with them, and they don’t play with me,” resident Orson Weste told News 6 after recording the bear rummaging through a neighborhood trash can.
According to News 6’s report on the Lockhart bear encounter, the bear wandered across the street from Weste’s home in the Orange County community northwest of Orlando.
Weste initially couldn’t resist getting a closer look.
“I was like, ‘Wait a minute. I ain’t never seen one up close, so let me take a video of this,’” he told the station.
The footage shows the large bear digging through a trash can before apparently finding a plastic shopping bag and carrying it away in its mouth.
Then came the moment that changed Weste’s plans.
“He was right there, and I feel like he looked at me and just walked away,” Weste said.
Weste headed inside.
Homeowner Says the Bears Were There First
Despite keeping his distance, Weste didn’t frame the encounter as a bear invading his neighborhood.
He told News 6 he has lived next to the woods for about four years and believes people need to remember that Central Florida’s wildlife occupied the area long before many of the surrounding homes did.
“They was here before we were, you know what I’m saying? We built on their area,” Weste said.
His solution has been practical: Weste secures the cover of his trash can with a bungee cord to make it harder for a hungry bear to get inside.
That matters especially during the fall.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s BearWise guidance says black bears can spend up to 20 hours a day searching for food at this time of year as they build fat reserves for cooler months.
An easy meal sitting at the curb can be considerably more appealing than searching the woods.
FWC recommends storing household garbage in a sturdy garage, shed or wildlife-resistant container and waiting until the morning of collection to put trash outside. Officials also urge residents to secure other potential bear attractants, including pet food, bird feeders, grills, compost and ripe or fallen fruit.
The agency says securing garbage is one of the most important steps a neighborhood can take to reduce repeated bear visits.
What to Do if a Bear Shows Up
FWC advises people never to intentionally feed or approach a bear. Feeding bears — or intentionally leaving out food or garbage that causes conflicts — is illegal in Florida.
If a bear comes into a yard, the agency says residents should first make sure they are in a safe location and that the animal has an escape route. From a safe spot, residents can make noise to discourage the bear from hanging around.
FWC’s broader guidance for living with Florida black bears emphasizes removing whatever attracted the animal after it leaves, particularly unsecured garbage or other food sources.
For Weste, however, the wildlife advice can be summed up much more simply.
Film the bear if you’re safely far away. Secure the trash.
And when the bear gets a little too close, go inside.
Because, as he put it: “I don’t play with them.”
