peace

Description

Battling bears caught on tape in Longwood, Two bears were caught fighting in a Longwood neighborhood earlier this week. Florida Black Bears around are not uncommon in this region. Seeing two in the midst of a bear brawl is something else though. A neighbor across the street from Tammy Snell shot the video Thursday. The bears appear to be playfully wrestling at first. But then they actually both get up on their hind legs and begin clawing at one another. Snell says she watched safely from her doorway as they continued on for several minutes finally falling into the neighbor's bushes. You might think neighbors would be scared by the sight, but most we talked to say they like living around the bears, and have no plans of reporting them to wildlife officials. "We aren't going to call," Snell said. "Because we know if we do they aren't going to relocate them until they hurt someone. And we are going to make sure we stay a safe distance away so they can live in peace and so can we, we live in their neighborhood." And that has been Fish and Wildlife's response to what seems like an increase in bear sightings over the past few years as more developments have popped up here near Wekiva Springs State Park. Most recently in March a bear was trapped and killed here in Longwood after it bit a woman, but usually they are more likely to go after unsecured trash cans, or in this case each other, than they are to attack humans. There was a little damage to some bushes as a result of the fight, but the neighbors call it a small price to pay to have witnessed such a rare sight in nature up close.