Florida Black Bear Goes for a Swim at Panama City Beach

Alligator sightings at the beach? Maybe there's a slim chance. Sharks hovering by the shoreline? No, thank you, but we know they're out there. Swimming black bears? That'd sure be something.

Well, you may have a hard time believing your eyes but a black bear was recently caught taking a dip in the water in Panama City Beach.

As the Panama City News Herald originally reported, Timothy Smith captured footage of a young black bear swimming between Shell Island and Tyndall Air Force Base and posted the footage Wednesday night. On Thursday, many spotted and photographed a bear taking a walk on the beach by Seychelles Resort, perhaps the same bear seen wading in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this week. Watch the video of the black bear swimming below.

Perhaps surprisingly to us, black bears are strong swimmers and have no trouble navigating some water — especially in search of dinner. “Bears...will take advantage of season [sic] food sources and sometimes that means they need to cross bodies of water to get there (fresh and salt),” Sarah Barrett, who works for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s bear management program, wrote in an email to the Panama City News Herald. “They can swim at least a mile if needed."

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Stay safe, everyone.