Apopka residents say nuisance bears destroy neighborhood

APOPKA, Fla. — Residents in an Orange County neighborhood said bears are leaving a path of destruction on trash day, no matter how tightly they secure their garbage.

Damage could be seen throughout the neighborhood on Fortune Lane and Disney Drive in Apopka.

“You can see where I have to keep putting up the nails and stuff, and where they come and bend it down,” said Mike Elder, whose fence needs constant repairs from the bears coming onto his property.

Elder said the bears dig through the trash and leave piles of garbage and that about a half dozen bears and their cubs drag trash into the woods near his home.

“They are smart. When it’s really, really cold, they hibernate and stay in the woods, but once they know it’s trash day, you can hear them coming,” said Elder.

Residents said the bears are destroying their property.

“One day I came out after the bears were here and this gate was lying on the ground where I am standing right now,” said resident Delmer Clark.

Clark’s entire fence is bent from bears climbing over it.

“I have called many times to report the bears and nobody does nothing,” said resident Cynthia Sherban.

Sherban doesn’t want to see the bears killed, but she is not getting any help from officials on what to do about the problem.

“If we had bear-proof trash cans, that would be a heck of a lot easier,” she said.

Residents said they would like to the city to pay for bear-proof trash cans.

WFTV