Three bears were caught on camera breaking into the patio area of a home in Southwest Florida, and having some fun around the pool.
The homeowner grabbed a camera and started recording. In the video you can see three bears playing near a pool then taking a drink.
It happened at a home in Golden Gate in Collier County. Neighbors say the bears are known to show up on trash day looking for food, but this time they decided to have a play date by the pool.
And neighbors asay the uninvited guests are making them nervous.
Corinne Greeling snapped pictures of the bears on garbage day. Her trash cans show permanent marks of bear scratches.
"I've tried strapping them down but they just tear the pilings out," she said.
Judy Burris took it one step further. She had a few of her own encounters and caught it on camera back in February.
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"We'd known the bears were getting on the patio... they had originally torn that screen out... they were simply coming in to drink the water and probably to play," she said.
You don't see bears wrestle on your pool deck every day, and Burris said she didn't want to either.
"The Fish and Wildlife Service advice was to scare that bear," she said.
So she bought an an animal alarm that was triggered when the bears came onto her patio.
"They clearly didn't run in fear but the alarm made them uncomfortable and they didn't want to stick around," Burris said.
She says she's convinced the screeching sound of the alarm is working.
"I've never seen them back and I've never seen the signs that they've been back," she said.
Burris added that the animal alarm is an effort to protect the bears, a non-violent way to keep them away.
