Lehigh family concerned for kids after home bear encounter

Reporter: Breana Ross Writer: Jack Lowenstein
Published: Updated:
black bears
Credit: Salazar family surveillance camera video still image.

It was a loud noise outside a family’s home in Southwest Florida that let them know they had a visitor early Saturday morning.

We’ve reported separate incidents when bears visited neighbors at homes in Lehigh Acres

That’s exactly what the Salazar family shared with us in a recording of a Florida black bear messing with their trash bins at their home along Bell Boulevard in Lehigh Acres this weekend.

“The bear came through here and right to the garbage can,” Hugo Salazar said.

We showed you the recording from the Salazar family’s home Saturday. We went to the family’s home Sunday, where they told us they have concerns for their own child and other neighborhood kids, who could have potential bear encounters like theirs.

“I heard when the garbage can fell at 1:30 in the morning,” Salazar said. “I was still up, and that’s what caught my attention and started looking, and there he was.”

The recording shows the bear knocking over trash cans on the side of the Salazar’s home and rummaging through garbage.

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