MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A black bear was removed from a tree Friday in southwest Miami-Dade County.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials said they received a call from a business in the area of 20739 SW 86th Court after employees saw the bear on an exterior surveillance feed.
Miami-Dade police also went to the scene.
"You could see him in the tree. It's a big boy. I said, 'Oh my. He's so big. He's so big," Linette Marshall, who lives in the Cutler Bay neighborhood, said.
Marshall and her son, Landon Zachary, went out for lunch Friday. When they returned home they saw authorities surrounding a tree on their property where the bear decided to hang out on.
"My heart is pounding. I'm like how does something that big get down here," Zachary said.
The bear was tranquilized and placed into a portable cage.
"He came (down) -- bam!" Zachary said. "It was like a small earthquake."
A biologist from Naples was called in to assist local agencies with extracting the bear.
The bear was taken to an FWC facility. It's unclear whether the bear will be released back into the wild.
"I want to thank Cutler Bay police and FWC for protecting the community by acting so quickly to tranquilize and remove the bear from the tree," Cutler Bay Mayor Peggy R. Bell said in a statement. "I am glad no one was hurt and the bear was safely captured without harm. In the (more than) 35 years I have lived here, I have seen many wild animals such as alligators, crocodiles, otters and birds, even a wild boar on the turnpike, but this is the first bear sighting and capture."