Kit Roberts
Unexpected encounters can be pretty hair-raising, but one woman had the shock of a lifetime when she let her dog out one evening.
The woman from Florida had let the dog out onto the porch, something she said she often does to discourage cats from gathering there. However she was in for quite the surprise when something quite a bit larger than a cat appeared.
You might expect an alligator possibly, but no. Gina Helsel came across a bear while she was out on her porch.
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A video from Gina's Ring doorbell camera shows she was sorting out her dog when the bear pokes its head around the corner. It might be tricky to say who was more surprised, her or the bear - though probably Gina.
Gina went out to see that the bear was poking its face around the corner of the porch.
The surprised Gina let out a shocked scream and bolted back into her house.
She told WSAZ: “The bear was getting in the neighbour’s trash, and I caught it in the act.
“My brother called me… cracking up and was like, ‘Gina, only you would scream like that'.”
Gina had fumbled with the door, being so surprised by the bear's sudden appearance on the porch, but fortunately was able to get inside safely.
She said: “I did fumble with it. It was open, too. It wasn’t shut all the way because I never shut it all the way when I take him [her dog] out."
She added: “I am glad the bear’s OK. I don’t want anything to happen to the bear. The bear was doing what – it lives here.
“I’m always looking for gators. I’m always looking for snakes, and I have this great fear of coyotes. But bears, I didn’t really think about.”
Mike Orlando, a bear biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, took a look at the encounter.
He said: “The bear is mostly focused on the dog. It basically lunges, does a bit of a bluff charge. Then, when her and the dog retreat, the bear runs away.
“They just all startled each other. She probably wasn’t prepared to have a bear sitting there, and the bear probably wasn’t prepared to have her show up with the dog.”
He added that it was important to keep rubbish secure, saying: “Some way to keep the garbage secure, so that you’re not bringing the bears from the woods into your neighbourhood, where you can have a run-in like she had.”
Gina's neighbourhood backs onto a conservation area which is a natural habitat for bears.
I think I would move.