Beer-Chugging Black Bear Visits Bar, Roams Florida Town

Written by Larry McShane for The New York Daily News

A thirsty 300-pounder black bear is wandering the streets near a Florida marina, chug-a-lugging beers found on back porches and popping in at the Happy Snapper Tiki Bar in Debary, Fla.

Customers stood and stared when the wild creature arrived at the waterfront bar, according to eyewitness Sandy Harvey.

“We all rushed over and we call watched the bear just meander all around,” she told FOX 35-TV.

Other local residents report the bear tearing into a case of beer — shredding the cans to get a taste — and knocking around in the middle of the night.

“Three o’clock in the morning, the bird cage just slammed against my front window of our Florida room,” Pennie Seibert told FOX 35. “I was scared to death.”

Although no one reports any threatening actions by the bear, residents are concerned by its apparent lack of fear when in the Highbanks Marina area.

Others have spotted the bear taking a drink from the fountain at the marina’s entrance.