Florida Couple Tries to Help Injured Bear

A Hernando County, Florida couple is breathing a sigh of relief.

For weeks, they’ve been trying to get help for an injured bear that’s been foraging through their neighborhood.

Florida Wildlife & Control has now stepped in and is working to trap the bear. The plan is to move it to the Ocala National Forest.

The bear, nicknamed Boo Boo, was spotted in a Weeki Wachee neighborhood, and the couple could see he was hurt.

He’d been eating the food Cat and Ron Richardson left for him; they knew feeding him wasn’t a great idea, but felt they didn’t have a choice. What do you do when you’ve got a wounded wild animal that seemingly no one can help?

FWC believes the best advice is to leave it alone.

Mike Orlando, one of the agency’s bear experts, says this case is unique in that the Richardsons fed the bear without letting the animal see them. Therefore, it doesn’t appear to have developed the association between food and humans. That’s why relocation may work.