This three-legged bear, nicknamed Tripod, climbs onto neighbors’ houses.
Photo: Video frame
Wildlife visits to populated areas of Florida are not uncommon. Deer or bears can often be found gutting garbage cans, walking through yards, and even breaking into homes when their owners are away. However, one wild visitor has become quite the celebrity in the local town of Lake Mary. This is a three-legged bear (he lost one of his front legs after being hit by a car), aptly nicknamed Tripod. It is easily recognized by its clumsy gait on two hind legs and one front leg.
On their social media pages, neighbors share Tripod recordings from surveillance cameras and their foraging exploits. More than once he broke into garages and tasted leaves from fruit trees. People argue about the animal’s weight, and one woman even wrote that she would be happy to house a furry one.
The other day Tripod made a new foray into the world. The bear’s appearance was filmed by a 13-year-old local boy named Joseph. The video that the boy recorded went viral on social networks:
“There’s no food there, buddy,” the boy said in the video as the bear reached into the patio refrigerator.
Later, the bear clumsily walked towards a street bar.
“He himself opened the fridge and the counter, ate strawberries and mangoes, and on the floor we found empty cans of White Claw,” Joseph’s mother told the New York Times.
Despite what bears emerging from the forest may mean to people, the local wildlife commission urges the public to learn to live with them. “After all,” environmentalists say, “bears lived here even before humans. “It is we who attack them, not they who attack us.”
