FWC investigates reports of injured bear possibly shot in Apopka

APOPKA, Fla. — The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission is investigating a video allegedly showing an injured bear roaming around an Apopka neighborhood.

Alyssa Garcia, 8, said she filmed a video of the bear with a cellphone she just got for Christmas.

As Alyssa began recording the bear with her phone, her mom can be heard on the video asking if the bear is injured.

Several people on Facebook who live near the Pines of Wekiva neighborhood, where the bear was seen, said they heard a gunshot between midnight and 1 a.m. Thursday.

Jennifer Hanke said she did not hear any gunshots, but she said the bear is a constant visitor to the neighborhood.

"I do know the bear that I’ve seen,” Hanke said. “He has a paw that is a lot smaller, like he's been injured, and he's been around a long time."

Besides rummaging through garbage cans, another neighbor said the bear likes to tear through fences.

"I wouldn't want to see it shot, but it needed to be relocated,” neighbor Reid Fletcher said. “Not that I know of anybody that's had any harm done to them, but this close to this many children in a neighborhood like this, it needed to go somewhere."

FWC was out Friday in the neighborhood after a report was filed by a neighbor. They said it could be hard to prove whether the bear was shot, because they would first have to locate the bear.

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Cox Media Group