You’ve heard of Cocaine Bear, now get ready to meet White Claw Bear.
A family in Lake Mary, Florida experienced one unusual home invasion this Labor Day after a three-legged bear snuck into their yard, apparently in search of some light refreshments.
The homeowners’ son Joseph Diglio was at home with the family dog when the black bear got onto their lanai porch, giving Joseph a rare close encounter with the wild animal.
“Oh my god, I’ve never been this close to a bear,” he says while recording a video.
But the bear wasn’t there to cause any harm: like so many of us on a hot summer day, the bear was just looking for a low-calorie alcoholic beverage — so he opened up a cooler and took some White Claws.
The bear helped himself to three of the family’s hard seltzers, cracking them open with his teeth, and was quite the connoisseur: “He took three White Claws, drank, and left very happy,” homeowner Josaury Faneite-Diglio told WESH. “His favorite flavor is mango and strawberry.”
Joseph was reportedly worried that the bear might try to enter the home, given that he knew enough to open the fridge. But the bear was content with the White Claws and a sampling of the family’s fish food, and went on his way.
It turns out the bear is a familiar face around the neighborhood: locals call him “Tripod,” because of his three legs, and he’s a “well-liked” member of the community.
“I was not scared because we know the bear really well. He lives here; we respect their habitat as much as we can,” Josaury said. “Just part of living where we live, honestly.”
“We really like him, he’s not aggressive,” she told Inside Edition. “He just goes away when people approach him. He’s not harmful at all.”
The bear left a hole in their patio door, but the family is content to let him off the hook. As we all know, there’s no laws when you’re drinking Claws.
Did Tripod actually have a craving for hard seltzers? Probably not, bear experts say.
“Bears will test foods and bite cans to drink what’s inside,” a spokesperson at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Bear Management Program told FOX 21 News. “We do not believe that bears choose cans that are filled with alcohol, it is likely just a random search to test what is inside.”
But perhaps he’s just a hip, calorie-conscious bear who enjoys a cool drink on a hot summer day. (He’d probably get along well with that bear who was found chilling in a pool last month…)
Tripod is a true party animal. Please share this funny story with your friends!
READ MORE:
- Bear chugs 36 cans of beer swiped from campsite, rangers lure him away using more beer
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- Wild bear beats the summer heat by taking a nice dip in homeowner’s pool
